Untidy Garden Theory

At 11am on a beautifully sunny Saturday in Haggerston Andrew and I met outside Ken's house to get our mission on. We found that the wonderful Will was already instead having come early to have a chat with Ken (another good deed I reckon!). Goodgym had assembled!

So the task was pretty simple - clear Ken's back garden of anything and everything (including some potatoes). So we got to work, exchanged a few stories and piled up all the weeds and nasty plants! A bit over half way through clearing the back garden Will had to dash to some where in south London (probably Tooting or Brighton or something) to play touch rugby. Will said his goodgbyes to Ken while Andrew and I continued thrashing through the weeds. Mr. Cornick was smart as he brought scissors and gloves, whereas I was less smart and ended up grabbing stinging nettles with my bare idiots (full-time idiot Axel would say). Good trimming jobs on those trees Andrew!

Amongst the weeds, potatoes and trees we found various wrappers, cans and general rubbish. From this I started to wonder whether there was an Untidy Garden Theory like the Broken Windows Police Theory in NYC. The premise of the Untidy Garden Theory is still developing but so far we believe if a garden is untidy or overgrown then people are more inclined to throw rubbish in it and the gardens around it more likely to be untidy. Therefore having tidy gardens not only helps the person(s) who live there but the surrounding community, which means that goodgyms missions and tasks are doing more and more good! This theory is yet to be tested and has no study backing, that is why it's a theory and not fact. Thesis and/or thesis research is pending.

After feeling pretty fulfilled that the back garden was completely clear we said out goodbyes to Ken, however we then noticed when we stepped out the door that the front garden could do with a with a tidy, so we got to work for 10 minutes and talked about Andrew's amazing trip to Nepal - I am very jealous. For a second time we said goodbye to Ken and left the area. Andrew then was heading back home to not do house painting (goodgym mission I reckon) and I headed to Dalston Curve Garden to go see Goodgym Legend Becky Greenwood, I ended up having the best pizza of my life and staying there for 5 hours. Curve Garden is an amazing space where they do lots of local work with the community/charities, Goodgym Hackney has visited there a few times to do some tasks - check it out guys.