David and I met up outside Mr D's door ready for another "bed related" mission. Once we'd been let in, Mr D showed us his Victorian era king size bed frame, and explained that because the bed had been moved from the wall a few times, the central bar holding the slats had moved, and quite a few of the slats had dropped out - as a result he'd had to place a worktop in one corner under the mattress to provide support...and a collection of slats in his hall cupboard.

After a quick inspection from under the bed, it was apparent that the central bar wasn't attached firmly to the frame, but could be re-attached if we could find the bolts holding it in place. David discovered at his end the bolt was jammed inside the cross beam, and after applying a bit of brute force, managed to get it freed - unfortunately the bolt at the other end was nowhere to be found under the bed or on the carpet.

We discussed with Mr D the various options, and agreed that we would re-attach the centre beam back in place using the bolt at one end, and a long screw at the other, which should then keep it in place. We placed coasters under the central legs to ensure everything was then at an equal height, as the four corners were already coastered.

Unsurprisingly the mattress proved to be both heavy and awkward to move, so we performed the re-slatting operation in a sequence of steps with it propped up against the frame/walls. Having built a few beds on previous missions, we both knew how to get the slats back in place, and the holding brackets re-attached to the central beam.

After quite a bit of huffing and puffing, we soon had all the slats back in their correct positions, and the centre beam firmly fixed - we explained that the foot end wasn't perfectly fixed, and that if, in the future, the bed was moved and any slats were to fall out, we would happily return to Mr D's to try a more robust repair, but we were both pretty confident that what we'd done would hold, especially with the weight of the mattress and bedding on it.

With that we dropped the mattress onto the frame, squared it all up, returned Mr D's tools to him and bid him farewell. He was delighted with our efforts (even going so far as to call us "experts"...), having given up any hope of getting the bed back to its original condition.

One highly slatisfied customer...

Oh the irony...when I arrived at Mr T's the first thing I noticed was that his hall carpet had disappeared - apparently he'd suffered a (plumber induced...he was not happy) flood, due to a blocked drain courtesy of his upstairs neighbours, and the resulting clearance work had caused the backed up waste water to eject itself from every plughole in his flat. Fortunately it had all been cleared up. Compared to this minor drama, today's shopping trip was a piece of cake.

On Miss N's reasonably short list today, she'd written Green Onions (for which she meant Spring Onions)...and so I found myself humming "that tune" on the way to Aldi. Booker T you have a lot to answer for...

A surprisingly cool morning, albeit Mrs S wasn't convinced when I mentioned this to her at 9, and we were soon down to the list making formalities - lots of "get them if they're on offer" and "only British (or maybe Spanish), but preferably British" when it came to particular items of fruit or veg.

Fortunately there wasn't anything particularly obscure, and as I'd mentioned I'd go to the Waitrose at the Brunswick Centre for a change of scene, I agreed to keep a look out for the elusive pumpernickel (it remains elusive). Otherwise all items largely present and correct, and Mrs S delighted for another week.

After canceling our last planned visit in June to The Greenway Orchard due to the heatwave, we were pleased to get back there this evening to see what had happened on the growing front over the past 2 months and catch up with task owners Taiwo and Eleanor...and it's fair to say quite a lot, as we soon discovered that the brambles and bushes that we'd successfully hacked at and removed on our last visit had grown back, not quite to square one, but we were definitely encountering roots and branches on the ground that we'd met before...

Paul, Brad, Adam and Nick met at Freaks and Geeks, and ran the c3km, using as much of the open parts of the Greenway as we could - a shoutout to Eugene who joined us just after 7 having left work in Romford, got home, changed, caught his breath, and then run to the Orchard - true GG dedication in every sense. With this determined gang of 5, plus Taiwo, and armed with a wide selection of cutting tools and thick gloves, we got to it.

Yet again it's amazing/impressive to see what a group of motivated individuals can achieve, as by 7.30, we'd made a real dent in the undergrowth, and created a correspondingly large pile of brambles and branches behind us. Determined to press on (almost to the hospital) we kept at it, and soon found blackberries (but no unexpected wildlife) hiding in the undergrowth. It had been a warm one, and after returning tools and gloves, we set off on a slow shamble along the Greenway before finding our feet/breath and running back to F&G, where we stopped for well earned light refreshment and a debrief on the evening's entertainment.

We'll be back at the Orchard in September (date tbc), as we definitely don't want to leave it another two months...