A small band this evening of Hilary, Rebecca and Nick - very much quality over quantity - met up at the Aquatic Centre (just about still light-ish), and navigated our way through the Olympic Park along the canal to find Ange waiting for us, with spades and wheelbarrows neatly parked...

The dune of sand(?) that we'd initially attacked back in July was our task for tonight (https://www.goodgym.org/v3/reports/leaps-and-mounds) - the dune had shrunk a bit since our last visit as Ange (with a few other smaller people helpers) had managed to get some of it moved to various parts of the playground over the summer, but there was still enough to keep us amused for a good hour.

With Hilary and Rebecca on shoveling duty and Nick on wheel barrowing, we soon established a chain gang that worked pretty well to get the sand shifted from outside of Ange's "office" to near the Big Ship where we slowly built a new dune...with only three of us on duty there were no tea breaks allowed in spite of occasional groans from one staff member whose shoulders were starting to complain.

When Ange comes out and compliments you on a job well done, you know you've done something pretty good, and at 8 we parked the spades and barrows - there's still quite a bit more to get moved, but we don't think you can long jump into what remains...which is real progress - and had a sociable run back to the Olympic Park along the canal, avoiding the occasional unlit pedestrian and bike rider along the way...

When I first walked into Mr S's flat I wasn't sure where the back stair case described in the mission listing was going to be...but all became clear when he invited me into the kitchen and showed me the access to the back door.

He needed this staircase cleared of random towels, plastic bags and other rubbish and dust that had accumulated there, and once I'd navigated the gate in the kitchen and a narrow bit of staircase to get all the way to the back door to open it, the task became a bit easier, especially when Mr S said I didn't need to move the pieces of wood, ladders or other tools and gardening equipment that were propped against the wall, and that I could sweep the dirt and dust down the stairs and straight out of the door! Everything else went into a heavy duty bin bag.

With that task complete, attention turned to changing a couple of light bulbs - for which thankfully Mr S had a suitably sized step ladder, even though it was still a bit of a reach, and the correct bulbs - a quick replacement in the living room and hallway, and Mr S's flat was infinitely brighter than when I'd first walked in.

Inevitably there would be potatoes and tomatoes on Mr M's list today, it was the quantity of each that I couldn't be sure of until I knocked on his door - this week 2 and 2, plus the usual supply of veg soup, and the added extra of a cucumber. Out, shopped and back with change in hand in no time!

Whilst sometimes a routine list is welcome, it's always quite entertaining when something new is added to the list and I end up wandering the aisles of Tesco determined to hunt it down, in this particular case, a jar of capers for Mr R - he described the recipe that he then prepares using the capers and other ingredients and I have to say it sounded amazing...