When I got back with Mr T's shopping this afternoon, he was deep in conversation at the door with his local councillor who was leafletting and canvassing in advance of the local elections.

Of course this then prompted a lengthy conversation with Mr T on the topic of both local and national politics (isn't that a topic best avoided in polite company...?). Somehow this then lead onto criminal justice, and a few other items in between, before we finally headed onto more familiar turf (literally...he'd had a good week), and the ongoing story of the curtains for which IKEA appears to be the winner...more next week I'm sure.

A mission that was exactly as described on the tin - 4 pints of whole milk from a local supermarket of my choosing for the extremely grateful Mr R.

Strangely (at least to me, but probably not to her), Mrs S's list today consisted of items mostly ending in O - I don't think she planned it that way (although one can never be sure), but at least it gave me the chance to discover what a Radicchio looks (and feels) like...

When I walked through Ms D's kitchen to the back garden, at first I couldn't see what today's ivy removing challenge was, as her patio area seemed quite clear...she then pointed to a very high wall at the end of her garden (accessible through a small "mind your head" shed), at which point my eyes widened..."I'm not that tall" I said.

At the end of her garden is a tall building, and the ivy had grown all the way to the top and encroached onto a small open area at the top, preventing (apparently...Ms D was somewhat sceptical) a door being opened, hence the request for the ivy to be removed.

Unfortunately to do that job required a decent length ladder, which wasn't something that Ms D had in her tiny shed (or elsewhere), so we did what we could from ground level using a step ladder, secateurs and a very useful pair of elbow length gauntlets to protect against the rosebush that was growing amongst the ivy - there was something quite satisfying about pulling at a strand and watching quite a few leaves fall down, but in reality we weren't going to solve the problem today with the tools that we had.

I agreed with Ms D that if she could get access to the building next door, it would be easier to attack everything from the top and let gravity do it's thing...