A compulsive drive for efficiency in getting stuff done without resorting to vehicle usage made me walk around the borough on Friday afternoon with two golden, giant balloons tied to my rucksack. I had them with me when Ms M's friend opened the door to the older lady's house in Hanwell.

"Hi, I'm Kash from GoodGym. I'm here to help with the garden."
"I thought you were advertising something."
"Not at all. My volunteering group is celebrating its 10th anniversary tomorrow. That's what the balloons are for."

The friend bought into my - completely true - story and called Ms M to the door.

"You will be shocked!" Ms M announced mischievously.
"You will be shocked too!" I replied, raising the stakes.

I brought my two shocking, floating golden companions through the door and explained what they're about. Ms M had a cool impression of a person who had seen it all, including gardeners bringing huge birthday balloons to the job. She was more than happy to let me leave them in the living room during the mission.

When I walked through the door to the back garden, the scene didn't appear shocking to me either. The dried, dead pot plants looked miserable, but I couldn't pinpoint anything particularly sensational there. It was bindweed that was supposed to raise my blood pressure.

Bindweed covered a decent chunk of the paving, flower beds and crowns of the overgrown bushes, but was easy to pull out. I was mostly done with it - at least on the ground level - in the first twenty minutes. I've asked about the overgrown bushes, and Ms M expressed she'd be keen to get them trimmed, but only if I have time to tackle the hedge in the front. I agreed to cut back both the plants in the back and in the front.

Perhaps I chose too short a ladder for the task, as reaching the tops of the bushes took more time than it needed to. Content with my job with the trimming, I swept the cuttings, packed them with bindweed into the green bin, then headed to the front garden.

The hedge was small, and so was the tool available for the job. Ms M couldn't find the shears, so I only had secateurs to trim the whole hedge. I had 15 minutes to complete this, sweep the paving and lock up the tool. I decided it would be better to do a less-than-top-quality trim than leave Ms M with a problematic monster hedge she wasn't able to cut back herself. And that's what I did. Ms M was delighted to see the result, even if it wasn't up to my desired standard.

I reminded myself to take the golden balloons before I left, and embarked on my next adventure.

Went for my weekly social visit with Mr T after having cake at the GG Ealing 10th birthday. As we say the show must go on, so after snacks and cake it was time to carry on doing good

It was great to see Rainu this morning, I stayed on for the lunchtime session and was again on serving duties - we had thought there weren’t so many people but, when the dining area doors opened at 1pm, every table was full! There was a constant flow of clients and the meal - fish pie and vegetables cooked by chef Andrew - was a great success. The only downside for me was a bruised leg as I managed - twice - to walk into benches in the crowded dining area. Next week I will be choosing different tables!

Friday evening task and I arrived at Ms A flat to take recycling bags out of her place and drop them down in the bins on the ground floor. When I arrived, Ms A asked where my accent was from and we ended up talking about different areas of the world. One was Ireland as Ms A is Irish and as I lived in Ireland she started saying something that all Irish are known for - short stories... Then she looked at me and said : A long story short which made both of us laugh as we talked longer than the task itself took to put away the 7 bags(3 heavy and 4 lighter ones). After clearing the bags and a nice chat, I left Ms A to wonder in the streets of Ealing.

For GoodGym Ealing's third and last Birthday Run, to celebrate our 10 years of good deeds in the borough, the route passed organisations old and new that GGE has helped in central and South Ealing, plus Northfields. There were 6 stops on the way to talk about each organisation, its purpose and how GoodGym has helped them work towards their goals. The organisations on the route were:

Walpole Park where we've worked with the park ranger to maintain the park for many years. We've mulched trees, cut back brambles, helped give away a giant pile of compost to residents, planted a flower bed for the visit of The Antiques Roadshow and moved tons and tons of wood chip.

Ealing Transition and Lammas Orchard was next, which was started when 2 tennis courts were reclaimed to create a community orchard. Similar to Walpole Park, we carry out lots of conservation and maintenance tasks here, like wood chipping the paths, clearing weeds, looking after the new and old hedges in the area and topping up the tadpole pool with water. We have a group run coming up to help Ealing Transition on the 25th of August.

A short dash from Ealing Transition was St Mary's Church where GGE have had many tasks over the years with different organisations. Tidying the church and decorating their Xmas tree is our traditional pre-Xmas party task. We now also volunteer weekly at South Ealing Food Cupboard and maintain the churchyard when called on. Our next tasks at St Mary's will be stocking the Food Cupboard on Monday and gardening on Tuesday for our next group run.

A hop, skip and a jump away down an alley was Grange School. A more recent task location since 2025, they have plans on turning an unused area with a huge pit into a nature area with a pond. We've had 2 sessions with parents and children from the school to clean up the area and turn the pit into a smaller, safer pool of water.

Further south was South Ealing Cemetery where, since 2024, we've had various interesting sessions with Ealing Parks Foundation. Their aim is to make the cemetery a welcoming place for everyone to reduce anti-social behaviour and shady people hanging out there. We've wood chipped paths, learned what a stumpery is and prepared and planted in their flowerbeds as part of the bigger vision.

A slightly longer way later and now heading west, the group arrived at Blondin Park. With the Blondin Consortium we've prepared for building of the pavilion, set up the annual Brentford Festival, installed boot scrubbers and there are always the GoodGym favourites, mulching, planting and watering trees.

The last stop of the run was The Log Cabin. No longer a GoodGym task location, it's an organisation that aims to bring together children with and without special needs to play together. They have a large play area outside that we used to keep tidy and keep maintained. During Covid, we flyered the local area for them too to share free activities to keep children entertained. It was also briefly the Ealing location for All Aboard Club's giant train set, before it moved to Acton's London Transport Museum Depot.

That was GGE's run through history. Organisations past, present and hopefully future. Let's see who's new on the list in 10 years time 🗓️.

Mr G had visitors from his Housing Association when I arrived today so I was dispatched to the supermarket without the usual pre-shopping chat.

The big news on the shopping front was the absence in store of Brussels sprouts - which they told me "are no longer in season". Hopefully they'll be back well before Christmas. In the meantime, I bought an extra cabbage to compensate.

Back to Mr G's just as his visitors were leaving so there was time for a catch-up on the latest with his flat renovations and his holiday dreams.