Cycling over to Hounslow I realised I was returning to a house I’d been to a few times before, the last time a couple of years ago. Ms G and her sister greeted me and offered the usual selection of interesting tools for clearing weeds, a couple of screwdrivers and a pair of scissors – fortunately there was also a rather nifty weeding tool this time and I’d remembered some secateurs.

After 90 minutes of snipping, tugging and persuading a particularly stubborn crop of weeds and brambles to vacate the patio, the clear up was complete. As I was leaving the sisters noticed some bindweed and a fresh bramble starting to poke through near the front door so those had to go aswell. Now the job was really done and I headed off to cool down out of the sun.