I was back at Ms M for gardening of the front garden. Knocked several times : no answer but i could see all the windows were open and hear some of her boys chatting. Rang her, she answered and said ah ok, then her young daughter opened the door in PJ's...seems that the children were all napping late afternoon. I got the tools and the children went back to their naps. I picked up the rubbish to avoid it getting stuck in the mower, used the secateurs to cut some thick weeds, removed all the bindweed that invaded the corner of the wall/house. Then mowing a very dry front garden, but as Ms M doesn't have the grass bag on the mower it just sprayed it all on my legs and the walk way - very dusty!! I picked all i could and filled 2 bags, then sweeping time with a traditional brush(see pic)

My 2nd coach weekly visit - normally run or walk but today it was mountain biking for a change. Pedal power today

Captain's Log, Stardate 4623.7.

GoodGym arrived at Grove Farm on the very edge of Ealing space. Not a single raindrop has been seen here for weeks. It's now the third month Admiral Mike has been stuck in the dry Costons Ditch in search of Japanese knotweed, an invader from a faraway land, threatening the fragile Ealing ecosystem.

Having chopped, trimmed, sawed and broken their way through the dense vegetation, the landing party, instead of knotweed, encountered ruins unlike any we had seen before. The settlement included a makeshift table, a birdcage, and a baby cot wedged into the ditch.

"It's kind of creepy to see this here," commented Medical Officer Gus, who joined the research party from faraway GG Hounslow to study the impacts of nettle stings on blood circulation.

No one had a hypothesis for why the colony had been abandoned, since the wild fruit and traces of water in the ditch suggested the location could sustain life.

Officers Afshin and Steph pressed forward with their hedge trimmers set to kill any bramble and hawthorn on their way. The tricorder pulled out by Science Officer Sevan to perform environmental scans started recording inexplicable readings. The officer figured out the GG Ealing crew was approaching the Harrow Neutral Zone.

Uncertain whether a potential violation of Harrow space could be interpreted as an act of war, the crew quickly collected samples from the ancient civilisation and evacuated the site. They carried with them the birdcage, the table and the baby cot, along with an oversized crowbar, a pallet, a bathroom tile and a variety of ancient glass vessels.

Among the artefacts was a mysterious Żywiec Trade crate, which only Captain Kash could identify. She hailed from an entirely different galaxy, in fact, from one of the moons of Planet Żywiec, whose inhabitants reached the pinnacle of civilisation, having developed industrial beer production and shipped their crates with goods all the way to the Ealing system.

Although the landing party had to beam themselves out of Grove Farm, Admiral Mike will closely monitor the location and dispatch another expedition of redshirts there in August. If you want to enlist for that voyage, watch this space for a new mission next month!

15 minutes wondering round the garden revealed 1 butterfly. Fewer than I've seen on other occasions, but perhaps started a little late in the day. Sammy (my dog) clearly thought I'd gone crazy, and was much relieved when I stopped staring at the undergrowth and recorded my grand total. A quick and easy thing to do - I've now added the app, so will probably count butterflies again!