This was supposed to be my return to Goodgym after a break. I originally signed up and became mission verified in 2023, and my last activity was in 2024. I had found it hard to fit in regular "goodgyming" activity with my schedule, and this was exacerbated by bouts of sciatica, injuries and general ill-health.

Recently my circumstances have changed, and my health and fitness has improved, so I decided now's the time to rekindle my efforts. I also felt a little guilty that Goodgym had recently renewed my DBS and were due a return on their investment!

After a false start (I signed up for a group activity, and then decided to cancel), I found a mission that was close to home and would get me back into the swing of things. I signed up to help MR.A remove some bags of rubbish from his upstairs flat, he was finding it difficult to negotiate the stairs. Mr. A lives quite close to me, so I worked out a slightly circuitous route, including a hill, that would give me a gentle workout before heaving the rubbish bags. I enjoyed a gentle 3k jog and arrived at Mr. A's promptly. Upon ringing the bell there was no answer. The mission confirmation email stated that "it sometimes takes him a couple minutes to come downstairs to let people into the building after they've buzzed the flat so be patient with him" so I waited a while. I then called Mr. A on the number provided in the email, he answered and informed me that he wasn't at home, he was in East London and he would like to cancel until tomorrow. I said that I would let the office know.

This was very disappointing. I turned around and jogged another 1km on my (more direct) route home.

Lesson learned, next time I will call ahead on the number provided to check that I should be on my way.

Anyway, my intentions were good, and I did get some exercise, so I will count this as a completed mission!

I will not allow this to deter me, I will find another mission to sign up for 😊

Phil and myself tackled Mr L’s errant apple tree to cut down some of the height to avoid it getting out of hand in his garden which he loves to spend time in. We took off some of the taller branches where we could reach (sadly neither of us had 10 foot arms!), more than filling the big garden waste bag, and Mr L was happy with the assistance.

On this very cold January evening I was motivated to get out running in the knowledge that I was helping somebody else out. Ms. K can now see what she’s doing in the kitchen. I even ran back home, rather than jumping on the tube, which doubled my mileage 😀