Back to Ms F for her weekly shopping. Not many surprises on the list : water always on the list. Had some extras or some slight changes and today she had a preference for the haddock at the fresh fish counter instead of the poached salmon with herbs. She said I dont like the breaded cod which I already knew 😉. Get some haddock if any, but dont take cod. Then worse case scenario I will have some salmon.

Lucky Friday as loads of haddock plus it was Fish Friday so got discounted fish at the till. Ms F loves her vouchers and discounts : bonus tonight!! Got some "fancy" cheese with mango & ginger. Salad is on the menu as got some nice gems, spring onions and avocado, not to forget the special mustard for the dressing.

Mr T was keen to share the ups and downs of his week the moment I'd walked through his front door, and, not for the first time, it related to his success (or otherwise) with the turf accountants. Seemingly the winnings he thought he'd secured this week had been subject to a reduction due to the imposition of Rule 4, which (as I now know in some depth...) allows the bookies to apply a haircut on the payout if something "untoward" has occurred in the race...yup, me neither, but I am so much wiser for today's teach in on so many fronts...I could sense beneath the normally engaging and chatty exterior he was quietly seething about the injustice of it all...

We were back to one of our regular haunts, Cecil Sharp House, on Wednesday. While their regular gardener is away on a well deserved break, we stepped in to keep everything tidy and well watered for the week.

We split into two groups; Team Watering Can very quickly got stuck in giving the thirsty plants a good drink after so many weeks without rain. This included the greenhouse, and many big planters with new plants around the entrance.

Team Broom were on duty to clear the paths, beds, and lawns of dry leaves. The many weeks of heatwave has bought on an early Autumn for the trees in the garden, which have already started dropping their leaves. While it may not have looked too bad at the start, we quickly gathered about ten very full bags and left the gardens looking a lot neater!

A huge welcome to Maya who joined us for her first GG session - it was wonderful to have you with us :)

Good luck to everyone taking part in the Big Half next weekend - you'll smash it!

A welcome return to see Ms V, and this time to help her take a new microwave out of its packaging and put it onto the shelf in her kitchen. After clearing space to allow the box to be opened, whereupon we discovered there was a further box inside the box that contained the oven, it was a case of lifting the thankfully not so heavy new unit out and putting it onto the recently vacated shelf ready for use.

I removed the packing tape, and showed Ms V how the grill tray fitted into the oven, and then perched the old microwave onto the empty box in her living room, and cleared a way back down her hallway. As always, Ms V was very grateful for today's assistance!

Mr C of Camden had a small garden at the back of his ground-floor flat, but was no longer able to maintain it after losing mobility in his left arm. The garden slowly became what seasoned GoodGymers would call a jungle. It was abundant in brambles, ivy, bushes and lost footballs, but lacked sunlight and room to move.

The space was dominated by an overgrown buddleia surrounded by walls of ivy. Clusters of thick brambles filled the gaps between the branches. On the left-hand wall grew something that could have been a sort of vine - Dutchman's pipe, perhaps? It had thin, dark stems and long, flexible branches capable of climbing walls and other plants. When Kash attempted to pull it, several metres of vine fell from the sky, while another few metres still clung to the ivy growing over the wall, giving the impression of the beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk.

Sevan collected most of the footballs in a single place, wondering why no children had knocked on Mr C's door, saying:

"Please, Sir, can I have my ball back?"

In 90 minutes, a remarkable transformation took place. The buddleia shrunk, the brambles disappeared, and sunshine finally shone into the garden. The GoodGymers didn't know what would happen to the footballs, but Mr C certainly had at least some of his garden back.

Today I worked alongside Ms D to unpack and organise some boxes. As we went through the items, some brought back fond memories for her of the good old days, which gave us a lovely opportunity to chat and reminisce together.

We also sorted through some pharmacy products and safely identified those that had expired. It was a productive session, and we enjoyed a good conversation while getting the work done.