Sunny Friday and a forgotten shed key meant hand weeding which was fortunately easy with the drier soil and meant the whole wheel barrow was soon full and we were on our way for the rest of Friday’s sunshine.

I thought this afternoon’s task to cut Mrs M’s grass might not go ahead as when I arrived there was no lawnmower to use.

No matter, Mrs M phoned her neighbour who was happy for me to use their mower and within the hour the grass was cut and Mrs M said she would be pleased to be able to sit out in the sunshine and enjoy her flowers 🌺

Our last trip to the Southmead Hospital Allotment where, over four visits, we have managed to clear an area of turf and today applied the finishing touches by turning over the soil and removing any remaining grass, weeds and rocks.

It was great to see Camila along for their first task, joining Melanie and myself as the GoodGym contingent alongside Jason and Issy, the regular allotment volunteers.

Between us we managed to clear the space, rake it over and have it ready for the planting of the wildflower seeds on Monday.

We hope to be back to see the meadow in full bloom later in the year 💐🌸🌺🌻🥀🪻

We chatted about the weather and how lovely it was outside. We then had a catch up about the week and how he was feeling, every time I see Mr A I learn something new.Mr. A was ready with his list which mostly contain fruit, vegetables and apple pie, we had a joke about Mr. A’s fondness for fruit. After unpacking the shopping, when it was time to say goodbye, Mr A shook my hand and it felt like a really special moment.

We hadn't expected to have to run the gauntlet to get to the city centre but a HUGE St Patrick's Day crowd had decided to party on King Street and Welsh Back (re-named Irish Back for the evening?) - who could blame them at the end of a rare blue sky and sun-filled day?

We fared (see what I did there?) better than the taxis trying to drive the roads and muscled our way through to cross the city centre to Brunswick Cemetery where more golden gravel was waiting to be exposed to the moon/sunlight once again.

Armed with forks and rubble bags, we were soon working on one of the normal paths before diverting onto the thick moss carpet in front of the old mortuary building - rich pickings for the supple of rubble bags and soon green carpet was becoming green waste ready for the Council to pick up.

It was great having Jo along for her second Tuesday but already third good deed as she joined the Northern Slopes task at the weekend.

The runners (Richard B, Richard G and Caroline were outnumbered by the walkers this week. Jason recovering from his first half-marathon at the weekend, Helen back from her travels , Ed showing off yet another volunteer kit top, Melanie pretending once again she knew what was going on and Jo - its lovely to have a balance of walker and runners, even better when the walkers just tip the balance!

After filling all the available bags, it was back to the mayhem of the St Patrick's Day crowds and on to Workout for pots of tea and a pint of Guinness, which is apparently the perfect pairing for chocolate cake.

We're heading the other way next week but hopefully the crowds will be long gone by then!

P.S. Ive written this report without reading glasses so please make corrections if you have edit access!

Dodging the raindrops, Janka (celebrating her 100th good deed) and Melanie set about clearing as much of the laying green waste, plus a stack more, to leave the growing patch of ground with only the plants we want there. Excellent progress! Then coffee and cake, obviously.