On my way from Grove Farm to Pear Tree Park, I cheered GoodGymer Eloise on her last kilometres of the Queen of the Suburbs race. The sight that welcomed me at the park was impressive: hundreds of new trees with protectors on. When I came closer, I found out that only saplings on the perimeter had the protectors - there were way more trees planted in between! Among the volunteers, people in orange hi-viz stood out - the Let It Grow crew. I approached one of them, her name was Cordie.

Cordie welcomed me warmly to the session and gave me instructions on today's tree planting: dig a square hole, plant a tree, and put some woodchip around; trees a sumo squat apart from each other. I planted about ten trees that way, then switched to the woodchipping duty. Towards the end of the volunteering day, we heard a thunder roaring in the distance. The storm was coming our way.

Just when all the tools were collected, and the barrows left the planting area, the first raindrops hit our faces. I bid Cordie goodbye and jogged towards the riverside path in the park where our GoodGym team had been working with Ealing Greenwayers on several occasions. The layer of woodchip was no longer deep, but the paving slabs were where we had put them, and remained a great defence against mud.

As the rain intensified, I cut through Pitshanger Park, not sure whether to seek shelter under the trees or not. The downpour was tremendous, and so were the thunders. I decided to carry on towards Ealing Broadway and stopped at the top of the hill to hide under a pine tree. It didn't provide much protection from the rain, but it was a game-changer when it came to hail. The thunderstorm was still on, but a hail massage was not what I was after at that time. I was after a dry place and coffee. When the hailstorm suppressed I ran the rest of the way to Ealing Broadway through a screen of water. I had absolutely nothing dry on me, so the rain and getting splashed by cars didn't matter anymore. It was a fun experience, made me feel alive!