Today's group run started in a new location and a new time - 6:30pm in Finsbury Park. And, in fact, run leader Sarah decided there would be no run as it was still 31⁰ and we were in the middle of an amber heat warning ⚠️.

The first excitement came when a fire truck arrived to douse a smouldering tree stump next to where Sarah was waiting.

Gradually, Team GGH filtered in, clutching various homemade and makeshift eclipse-viewing apparatus. Not being of these isles, Sarah asked - "would you say this is Blue Peter?" Paul confirmed that yes, it was very Blue Peter. "Shame there's no badge though". "We could MAKE them!" Sarah suggested.

The park was full of other people, some of whom also had homemade devices. The group gradually moved around the park, chasing the best viewing angles to see the tiny pinhole (or colander) projections as they changed shape and the sky darkened - and was that the wind changing?

Once the eclipse had peaked it was time to make our way to the task - conveniently located close to the park. The aptly named Olive Tree House is a sheltered housing scheme with a garden dominated by a large olive tree.

No tools, no problem!

Unfortunately today's task owner had forgotten to drop off tools at the task - but as the team were already in a mood to improvise nothing could stop us. Utility knives were found, muscles were flexed and before long the bins in the bin store were full and there was a pile of black bags full of weeds and prunings at the side of the garden.

After some quick refreshments, it was time for our team to leave, with a promise to return to do even more.

Today's task owner was feeling a little under the weather, but heroically came up with an alternative plan for our group: giving the parklet on Gladstone Avenue a bit of TLC.

It was lovely to meet newcomer Henriana and also to welcome Jessie back from her travels in South America. Sarah selflessly handed her gardening gloves over to Henriana so she could pick up discarded dog poo bags while Sarah took photos for the run report.

Armed with two Veolia sweeper bags, the team quickly organised to put recycling (beer cans, energy drink bottles) in one bag and general waste (dog poo, dirty cardboard) in the other. "Why are we doing this when Veolia is going to collect it all as general waste?" Sarah mused. "Because I can take it home and put it in my bin" Dave said. Then Yann pointed out that he lived only a couple of if minutes' walk away and also had a recycling bin. Problem solved!

A lot of the litter tonight was in planters that sadly don't contain any plants or soil any more. Paul and Dave put their heads together and came up with a solution: attaching some mesh across the opening of one of the planters. Paul ran home for the mesh and screws, before making short work of attaching the mesh across the planter.

Finishing with loads of time to spare, Latoya suggested a round of Sallies to round off the evening. There was unanimous agreement to this suggestion from unsuspecting newcomers and seasoned Goodgymmers alike. Hazing ritual complete, Sarah declared tonight's task officially over.