What a lovely morning! The famous red and yellow of the DHL van pulled up along side the church and - to everyone’s surprise - it was full to the brim with crates and creates of food donations. We almost didn’t have space for everything! At least triple what they usually get, apparently (and they usually receive plenty).

The whole team had their work cut out but this only meant that more families had fresh, healthy and plentiful food for the week. (Plus - our biceps feel that little bit firmer today!)

Back to Mrs A back garden : today it was like walking on egg-shells - in fact on golf balls. Discovered more golf balls as I cleared around the trees. Was every step a bogey?

Discovered more items apart from the balls once I cleared the brambles and bindweed : yes 2 cat sculptures, a line to hang clothes to dry, metal parts and light in the garden(escaped the dark side of the garden). Yes the garden brightened up as cleared what was stopping the sun to come in.

As you can see by the photo had to crawl under the high brambles to clear the area.

A last minute change of plans meant that Kash, Maria and Sevan found themselves at Acton Junior parkrun for the second week in a row. Kash and Sevan had found spots on the roster as marshals and Maria took the usually chilled out role of funnel manager.

Today there was some minor trouble in the funnel as the 39 finishers passed through. Two parents disrupted Maria's morning as they joined their children in crossing the finish line. Two runners too caused problems after a sprint finish, leaving Maria to work out who crossed the line first. That was only one of the photo finishes today with 3 pairs of runners crossing the line within a second of each other. What a close, competitive, friendly group of children.

Another great lunch session at Ealing Soup Kitchen and I was on serving duties again. It’s one of my favourite roles as I get to know the regular clients who attend every week. And find out their food likes and dislikes - this week’s pasta bolognese was very much a ‘like’. And the chocolate brownie dessert definitely was! As the lunch service quietened down, I helped with some clearing up - always lots to do in that area.

One Saturday in August, Sevan and Kash showed up at Mr R's bright and early. The older gentleman had been one of the first customers of their mission alliance, so the GoodGymers had experience in managing his large front garden. Yet, today Mr R had other plans.

The priority was the back garden (which Kash never visited), more specifically, maintaining Mr R's relationship with his neighbours by appropriate bramble management along the fence. Mr R sensed he could maximise the value by splitting the team, and decided that Kash would stay at the front (and never see the back garden) and Sevan would take care of the brambles with a strimmer at the back. Sevan politely objected to that task allocation and headed to the front, leaving Kash with what she liked most: power tools.

The power tool disappointed Kash in the power dimension. It wasn't fierce enough to deal with the thicker bramble stems, nor was it practical against the long young shoots, which kept getting caught in the mechanism, stopping it from spinning. Kash decided to use the shears she had noticed on the way to the garden and summon help.

Sevan, having removed the biggest weeds at the front, appeared in the back garden. Having tested the strimmer's effectiveness himself (not satisfactory), he grabbed another pair of shears and, together with Kash, cleared the brambles growing within a metre and a half of the fence. Kash, armed with brambleproof gloves, packed the trimmings in the green bin.

More work remains to be done, but the good relationships with the neighbours have been protected for the time being.

After volunteering at Southall Parkrun, went to Mr A to do some garden tidy and weeding. On arrival, Mr A said please go to the back via the side path to do the garden. I went thinking he would appear on the other side, but it was not the case. I could see what needed to be done, but could not see any tools and spotted the bins in the front on arrival. Knocked on the door...no answer so decided that even with no tools I could tidy this garden, so pure force or elbow grease it was. Then a lady appeared in the garden 45minutes later and said I am his career and he has tools as purchased some including bags : she got the tools and bags but I had already "powered on with my pure force". The bags and brand new broom were useful. Filled 5 bags of greenery and 1 bag of rubbish. When Life Gives You No Tools, You Improvise. DIY: Done It Yourself (Literally, No Tools)