One of those tasks where everything just neatly slotted into place - to the point where we commended Ms R on purchasing a sturdy well built (and well designed from a flat pack build perspective) sofa. We seemingly had it built in no time, with the instructions being clear and concise (always welcome...). Once we'd moved a small table, it even fitted perfectly into the space that Ms R wanted it in - thumbs up all round, and Ms R was delighted with our efforts, and her new sofa.

Mr T's (cross) word of the day was Quirt. If anyone reading this knows what this means (without resorting to computer aided assistance of any description), then you probably can also solve the Times crossword in ten minutes...and I applaud you accordingly.

Thankfully the shopping task set by Mr T was more straightforward - even Sardines in Tomato Sauce were back on the shelves at Tesco, which delighted Mr T no end - as did the new bottle of Lea and Perrins that he specifically requested (and which will probably last him another five years...).

A now familiar list and walk to Aldi for the always grateful Miss N - trying to stay in the shade as much as possible. She'd added at the end of her list "a bowl of Limes" from Church St Market, which proved a welcome diversion, if nothing else to marvel at the variety of fruit and veg on offer at the stalls...and the fact that £1 buys you a lot of limes...

Two for one today, as Mrs S asked if I'd mind going initially to the (shiny new) M&S to get her some beetroot salad (that I'd missed last week), and then onto Waitrose on Oxford Street for the rest of the dictated list. With the sun already out, it was a case of staying on the shady side of the street as I wandered up Tottenham Court Road for part 1, before avoiding a very sunny Oxford Street for part 2 - fortunately both shops had everything that Mrs S needed for another week of healthy eating.

An almost perfect evening for a pleasant 3k social run and return visit to the communal gardens at Wild Green E13, where this week we were tasked with weeding the "mural bed" (aka disturbing yet again a lot of snails), and after being given a crash course in weed identification ("take out all the ones with the big rabbity ear style leaves"), and armed with an impressive collection of trowels, and a wheelbarrow to use as the collector of said ears and anything else that could be composted, Hilary, Graham, Brad and Nick got to work.

We had an audience, as the evening sunshine had brought out the crowds to enjoy the park and gardens, and we received quite a few compliments from the benches on the great work we were doing to keep the garden neat and tidy - our hosts were equally delighted with our efforts, and once we'd got the weeding done, it was time to water the vegetable patch in advance of the forecast hot spell later this week - Graham discovered the Edvard Munch "Scream" watering can was surprisingly accurate...After an equally pleasant run back, we decided Hilary's birthday of last week needed celebrating, and conveniently our run had finished right outside the pub...always great when a plan comes together.

We'll be back again to help out at the gardens on 4th August - more watering, weeding, composting and whatever other tasks that Fleur and her friendly colleagues need doing to keep this particular community garden in excellent condition.