Which of course is the punchline to "A man goes to see the doctor and tells him he thinks he's a pair of curtains...and the doctor says..."

It's admittedly not a great joke, but we spent a long time discussing curtains and carpets today as Mr T realised that the ones in his flat were last renewed 15+ years ago - I commented that actually they didn't look too bad, albeit the curtains were a little uneven, but seemingly effective in the doing their job. He admitted he'd put down the current carpet himself, having got the roll from a market stall friend of his on the Edgware Road. I said the internet was probably his best bet these days to find cost effective replacements, and in that brief exchange we both realised how much the world had changed!

Fortunately it was back to old school ways for today's shopping, a quick trip to M&S, Tesco and Lidl, and Mr T was well stocked for another week - I left him contemplating his carpet...

A quick one in the winter sunshine. Pulling weeds from the front garden, dug out some of the tougher roots and swept the front steps.

Six GoodGymers braved the damp and cold to make a difference this Wednesday!

This wonderful group — of Charlie, Jackie, John, Kathleen, Steve, and Alex — turned up at Cecil Sharp House for our first visit of 2026!

There has been a bunch of building work at the house and our task was to clean things up — cue...

❤️ Jackie's wonderful leaf collecting and litter picking, turning the lawn and surrounding areas immaculate :)

❤️ One marvellous human chain making light (and swift) work shifting a true mountain of bags!

❤️ Gritty effort sweeping and raking and collecting all manner of building rubbish, leaves, and weeds!

Thank you so much, everyone!

It’s Ms F’s birthday tomorrow so gave her a small gift from my travels. Otherwise a standard visit. New item this time was roasted almonds.

Fortunately a family friend of Mrs M was on hand this evening to explain to Theo and I exactly what furniture needed moving and where, so that sufficient space could be cleared in the living room to allow Mrs M to be discharged from hospital.

We started with the sofa and after a bit of huffing and puffing we had it partway up the narrow staircase, and then got very stuck...an extra inch of space was all that was needed to get the sofa over the bannister and through into the bedroom but we couldn't manoeuvre it in any direction to free it. Past similar sofa shifting experience proved invaluable at this point, as I reached into my bag for a screwdriver and removed the four feet, giving us the essential two extra inches of clearance we needed to finally get it to its final resting space.

After gathering our breath, we were able to then move a couple of cabinets and a folding table up the stairs, up another set of stairs and park them in the spare bedroom/laundry room, and our task was complete for the evening.

The Edgy Collective reached out for help stewarding their wassail and procession and three Goodgymmers stepped up, 'apple' to help. The wassail started at Castlehaven Community Association with a gathering of organisers, locals and an amazing side of Morris dancers, the New Esperance Morris. After some hot mulled apple juice, and some lovely vegan gingerbread biscuits baked by Daniella, our host, we moved to the nearby mulberry tree to start the procession.

The tree was hung with cider-soaked toast and ribbons representing the community's messages of hope. We banged pots, ululated and hollered to banish evil spirits, wake the trees and summon forth fruit and good health for the year. Then we set off to the centre of Camden High Street, where the Council has created an experimental, car-free zone. The Edgy Collective's lovely installation, subSTRATUM, sits in the middle of the street outside Box Park, with metal planters full of shrubs and flowers, benches and a stage area for community events.

The Morris dancers then got dancer, with a piper and violinist and a giant pigeon! Camden's high street was FULL, like, FULL, and everyone seemed to be utterly amazed by the joyous, wholesome and weird sight. There were quite a few pigeon selfies too. It was Cherian's first ever experience of this unique tradition and, well, she was speechless! Ariane has been to quite a few, and merrily sang along with the wassail songs.

After the festivities were done, we processed back to Castlehaven, drank more apple juice and mulled cider, cheered and departed. Ariane went off to Regents Park for a run, Cherian went home and I stuck around to help pack down. All round, a wonderful community event, with wonderful people. Wassail!