After regularly shopping for Ms D on a Thursday morning for so many months, for various reasons Friday has become our new day to meet, although as she put it "it's fine, I'll always be in". This week she was well prepared, in spite of having to deal with a last minute laundry machine issue that her kindly neighbour had managed to fix. It had turned cold out, so it was a brisk walk up the Edgware Road and around the aisles, and before long I was back with her treasure for another week for which she was, as always, extremely grateful.

It was a happy new year to Mrs S who was in good spirits, in spite of finding herself housebound due to the cold weather and icy conditions, and her natural desire to avoid any risk of another fall after last year's little incident. She was keen to tell me that her daily exercises to restore strength in her various repaired joints are going well but I implored her to sit tight, as today was proving particularly blustery!

It was then the usual dictation of the list, which I took down in my best handwriting, and her explaining a few specifics (including how to properly pronounce Skyr...) - familiarity is now helpful in this regard, both of Mrs S's wants, and what's to be found in the aisles of the world's politest supermarket.

For our first group session of the New Year we were full of energy, despite the cold, and back at our regular task - St Andrew's.

We arrived to find the energy levels at the centre were equally as high, and there had even been a new arrival - Spikey the bearded dragon! We were treated to a meet and greet with Spikey later on, but first there was a task to do.

The youth club has recently been given a grant to buy a whole load of new kitchen equipment, but first they had to get rid of all of the old stuff cluttering up the cupboards.

We kicked off by emptying out all the old gadgets and mixers, blenders and sandwich makers, before carefully testing each one to make sure they worked.

Then came the cull, the cleaning and the uncovering of a fabulous new cheese grating machine that youth manager Adrian was very happy with indeed!

With everything cleaned and sorted we organised the cupboards and there was just a time for an audience with Spikey. He gratefully accepted his January feast of mealworm and crickets as we admired him, before heading off into the freezing night.

Next week we're back transporting food to rough sleepers - hope to see you there!

A welcome return out west to visit Mr R, who unfortunately managed to pick up the lurgy (technical term) over the festive period, so we had a suitably socially distanced chat, before I took his list, money, reusable bag, and photos of the specific coffee and bread that he wanted, and set off out towards chilly Maida Vale.

I was delighted (as much for the run report title) that a bag of lemons was high on his list, although Little Gem lettuces proved scarce, as did Tesco's own brand of butter, for which I had to make a substitute of a single block of unsalted Lurpak (at twice the price!). Mr R, as always, was extremely grateful for the assistance, and I wished him well in his ongoing recovery.

After experiencing a no-show beneficiary at their earliest morning mission, Sevan’s and Kash's day became a bit fluid. They have rescheduled and completed a task in Blackheath and found themselves in a café in Lewisham, discussing when to take a train to Victoria to get to their last mission, which they also wanted to start earlier than planned. The answer: all trains were equally boring - how about a 9.5 km run? That's what they decided to do, exploring areas of South London along the way.

Miss M didn't mind having the GoodGymers show up earlier and had her donations for the charity shop ready in the landing when Sevan and Kash arrived. This time, there was only one donation drop run for two pairs of GoodGym hands, as the lady hadn't gotten enough boxes to pack up her unwanted books yet.

Sevan and Kash carried four bags with clothes, a hot water bottle, a pair of slippers, and a couple of teddy bears through a familiar route to the FARA charity shop in Pimlico. Once donations were received, the last thing to do was to bring the large bag back to Miss M, enabling more charity shop runs in the future. The GoodGymers set off for a very short jog, scaring a group of street pigeons on their way, which triggered a memory of Sir David Attenborough's film about wildlife in London they had recently watched.

I feel like a peregrine falcon! - Kash.
Not like a five-year-old? - Sevan.

With the last task of the day complete, the two decided to keep an eye out for future tasks for Miss M, as decluttering space and donating no longer needed items feels particularly rewarding, even when done for someone else.

Clean went very well with the extra member