A gang of Bodacious Burdock Bashers met today in Hanwell, a new, trending location for young* thrill seekers. They were blessed by the unexpectedly warm weather and an abundance of burdock in a nearby park. For a bunch of cool kids like Madhan, Sevan, Steph Ducat, Harvey and Kash, there's nothing better than hanging out in a park after dusk and bashing some dried burdock.

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*under 60

They ran from the Hanwell Clock Tower to Elthorne Park through the woods by River Brent and along the towpath. No one fell into the canal but it was still fun. In the park, they opened the container where Ranger Jon held his treasures and found a wheelbarrow. It was one of the models that never got a flat tyre, and the crowd instantly fell in love with it. Only Divya, who just arrived on his bike, had a ride that could compete with the barrow. The gang loaded the barrow with loppers and headed uphill to engage with some burdock spotting.

They couldn't find any burdock in the area GoodGymers had cleared at the beginning of August. They must have done a great job back then! Or it was too dark already to spot burdock...

They fired up the head torches and portable lights and moved further down the path. They found giant burdock plants that hadn't been cut down by anyone since GoodGym's last visit. The gang ruthlessly chopped the burdock into small pieces to fit it into tonne bags they had found in the container. The stems made squeaky noises when cracking. A series of kicks and stomps put the protesting burdock in its place. Soon, two big bags were full of burdock and hauled to the container.

The GoodGymers checked if there were no remaining naughty plants in the nearest area but all of the burdock was on their gloves, shoes and running kit. It turned out that the people with the most exposed skin tonight were at an advantage. Paradoxically, they were less attractive to burs that had nothing fluffy to hold on to. No one escaped the itchiness of the skin - a farewell gift from nature's velcro, which god knows how got under GoodGymers' t-shirts.

Next week Ealing GoodGymers are running back to civilisation - to help St Mary's church in the heart of South Ealing. Sign up now!

There was a great turnout for the first GoodGym cheer station at Ealing Half Marathon. Many from the earlier Warm Up came to encourage the runners, along with a few more who felt that the 7:55am warm up was too early a start on a Sunday morning 😂. They lined the route at their commandeered bus stop, standing in front of the GoodGym flag.

Milly took control of the motivational tunes while Tish brought her race cheering experience, with shouts to charge the runners up. There were a few problems with the flag... the gaffer tape wasn't great and keeping it stuck to our bus shelter, so running repairs were needed which kept people busy.

The runners passed at 1 mile in, then again at mile 11 with many GoodGymers, current and lapsed being spotted. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves were cheered on, as was a half-man-half-T-rex and thousands of other runners who took part in the amazing community driven event!

P.S Milly also gets a bonus 🌟 for helping a runner tighten up her running belt.

As a thank-you gift from William Hobbayne Charity, GoodGym Ealing was invited to a free kayaking session with the club Edge Paddling 🚣‍♂️

Sevan and Kash arrived early and popped into The Fox Inn in Hanwell.

The suspense builds up...

They caught a glimpse of Madhan and then Divya who walked past the pub and were looking for their friends by the bridge over the canal. Sevan and Kash revealed themselves and met Charlotte from the charity who registered them for the kayaking session. Now, all five waited for Madiha.

The suspense builds up...

Madiha arrived on time but it turned out that the previous kayaking lesson with the Edge team was overruning, so there was a little bit of extra waiting time.

The suspense builds up...

It didn't take too long when paddling instructors Trevor and Iza appeared and invited GoodGymers to walk with them towards the canal. The group stopped at one of many Hanwell locks, where Trevor gave everyone a thorough intro to kayaking. When everyone was getting ready to jump into kayaks, they spotted a little commotion at the lock. A narrowboat was passing through it! The gang had to wait again...

The suspense builds up...

In the meantime, Iza and Kash walked to the car to drop valuables the GoodGymers would mind getting wet (phones!). When they came back, there was one more hurdle: fitting people into the boats! Or rather, fitting the boats to hold people in. That needed adjusting a few screws.

The suspense builds up...

Finally, we got into the water! Luckily, there was no group booked after our slot, otherwise, we would paddle for a very short time. Iza and Trevor let us have plenty of time in the water and certainly made up for the long setup with their skill and friendly attitude. They were fantastic teachers and great company to chat with.

We quickly found out that our kayaks were not designed to go straight. At the beginning - and for some of us throughout the whole session 😅 - we spent time spinning around and bouncing into each other and the canal edge.

Madiha showed off her mastery by quickly getting a grip on going straight rather than spinning, all thanks to remaining calm and relaxed.

You need to remember one word and I cannot emphasise that enough: gently - Trevor

Madhan, after fooling us with a good amount of spinning maneuvres, showed us the best technique of disembarking the boat onto the shore.

We had lots of fun on the canal and lots of canal water in our bottoms by the end of the session. We decided to go to The Fox for some food and drink, hoping to get a bit dryer. It worked for most of us, apart from Kash, whose outfit was super-absorbent. Will those sweatpants ever get dry and warm? 🥶

The suspense builds up...

I've noticed that City Harvest had a slot available for the evening shift today and booked it. It's been a while since I've been to City Harvest and noticed that it looked different as there is construction work going on inside the warehouse. So they've restructured certain areas.

Today's all about lettuce. We filled crate after crate with lettuce till 7:45 p.m. And in the last 15 minutes, we seperated the crates so that it will help the morning shift tomorrow

Another usual shopping for Mr.H. By now I've memorized the aisles in M&S and Tesco and the shopping was done at a rapid pace. I couldn't get Organic Hummus. Other than that it was a light shopping with 6 items. The shopping mission was completed in 20 minutes.