New Year, New visit, New shopping list, New items - grocery shopping for Ms F. Another visit to Ms F in Camden and this time we wished each other a Happy New Year 2026. After some catching up, was given a list with a twist - new items on the list as Ms F had some discount vouchers but also a free item to collect. She also wanted some slightly different items to cook and was in need of some clothe washing liquid(not critical but helpful as heavy for her). Got all the items including more vegetables than usual, but no battered haddock once again from the fish counter. Is the haddock vanishing? Got the salmon and the veg so all good. Different cheese today : Wensleydale cranberry cheese. No Boxton water, but got Evian as spoke to Ms F to see if ok for Evian. It was also discounted today. After getting the items, had to find the free voucher item : Waitrose Pink Champagne Truffles - what a treat. Another mid winter saving trip to the shops as the truffles were free, had 3 discounted vouchers and did savings on the day with the Evian water(- £1.50) and the the laundry liquid(- £3). Total saving of £13 between the vouchers and the products I found cheaper. Ms F was delighted and was also very curious with the truffles as did not imagine "truffles" like this. Before I left, helped Ms F retrieve her winter hats and a bedquilt from above a massive cupboard as she could not reach them and didn't want to fall over like she did last year which ended Ms F with injuries. As I am tall, got them so can stay warm during these cold days. She will be able to have a warm sleep with her warm quilt and go out to the local park with lovely warm hats.

Mr T happily regaled me with the various challenges he had to deal with over the festive period (his heating failed, a challenging visit from a nurse practitioner, the mystery of the Christmas lunch that never arrived...), and all this in the first five minutes of me arriving.

After a catch up that somehow went from black pudding (definitely not in the dessert section) to the joys of mackerel fishing, onto fisticuffs (not his, but a former sergeant) outside a Glasgow pub, and the beauty of the Isle of Arran, today's shopping trip proved largely trouble free, albeit sardines needed hunting down along Tottenham Court Road, and the Lidl queue was its usual semi chaotic self.

Another week and another visit to Ms F for some shopping. This Saturday, Ms F was more chatty than usual, maybe because she went out during the week with friends and socialized more than usual. We spoke about her lunch with friends during the festive period : seems very happy to have met her friends around food and drinks. Then we spoke of a gift she got which she put on the sofa as matching colors, but she did not look at it properly and thinking it was sheep as it was a gift from her welsh friend. I said its highlands cows which she then put her glasses and said oh I did not realise. Then we went through the shopping list : usual with extra's this week but we both knew that some items might be out of stock or short dated due to the bank holiday. I went and the store was busy, the shelves were empty including the fish counter(half the products missing and low in staff compared to the usual shopping days. Got nearly all the products apart from the battered haddock and none at the fish counter and know that Ms D does not like cod which also had only a few pieces left, so did not get some but got her salmon pieces she normally gets. After my visit, I was back at Ms F flat to help her unpack the groceries and move the heavy items like the 6 bottles of water to the kitchen. Then I also shown Ms F how to get her iphone out of mute mode which she mentioned to me before I went to the store. She did not know how she put it in mute the day before and waited for my visit to resolve this small but annoying item for her. All resolved and will now be able to resolve in the futur if it happens again. We wished each other a Nouvel An celebrations as New Year is in a few days. Bonne Annee and see you soon.

Ms F is a regular and when arriving at her block of flats noticed something different at the entrance. Yes they have a new intercom nd works like a treat - the previous one made its time and needed to be replaced. Ms F had her list ready for me and some coupons on her loyalty card. She was happy to see me and we spoke in Frenglish : a lot of French with some English words as she could not remember some of them. Ms F shopping list is pretty straight forward, but today had a twist as she added a few different things and had some freebies...so my mission was to get the groceries with the discounted coupons and the freebie. I was quick to fond all the items as starting to know her local shop. Got all the items with discounted vouchers and the free item(Bonne Maman jam - cheery flavor). Also got her some battered haddock on top of the usual list. Nothing missing despite some empty shelves in the store. At the till. I double checked that all the items had their discount and the jam was not charged. I went back and Ms F, said that i was super quick and was happy to have all the items. She was even more joyful when i told her she go all her discounts, the free item and an extra discount on something she forgot about - Super Saver day!!!Saved her £7.60 on her shopping today. We had a chat, wished each other Merry Xmas and said see you next week as I will be back for another shopping trip on the week end.

Six vans. Countless crates. And lots of people with positive energy.

We teamed up with the Camden food bank crew to unload crates of food, drink and toys from six different vans. We made a human chain, passing crates of all shapes and weights across two floors, then stacked them into neat towers.

Best part? The banter and teamwork. There’s something very uplifting about meeting new people while doing something practical that really matters - and with Christmas around the corner, this mission definitely got me in the spirit of giving back!

There is a large — possibly huge — tree at Cecil Sharp House.

It must have looked over Camden Town for more years than is possible to count.

It certainly has more leaves than is possible to even imagine.

But our friendly and hardy group have been raking, sweeping, grabbing, and packing this tree’s leaves all season.

And last night — just in time for Christmas — was our final leaf–tackling outing until next autumn 😊

Chandrima, Jackie, John, Lydia Siobhan, Steve, Susannah (our brilliant host), and Victoria didn’t waste any time in donning gloves and getting to work.

First they raked and swept and grabbed and packed, and second they hauled a GIGANTIC number of heavy bags (choc with leaves) to the front of Cecil Sharp ready for collection and composting 😊

Thank you, everyone! Here’s to… 2026!