The garden needed raking and weeding, so Mrs N and I went looking for the tools. No rake. No broom. No secateurs. No tools at all! After a thorough search, we finally opened the shed and discovered it was absolutely full of them. There were enough gardening tools to run a small garden centre! With the tools located and the rooster supervising from a safe distance, the garden was soon looking much tidier. The rooster, meanwhile, appeared to have contributed nothing except a few loud “cock-a-doodle-doos” at the end of the mission, but he seemed very pleased with my progress.

There was a new task waiting for Kash and Sevan in Mrs K's front garden after last week's mission trimming roses and over other overgrown plants in the back. The path to the front door and pavement in front of the house were being taken over with Mrs K's shrubs, bushes and trees. Mrs K was also worried about damaging her car on them when she opened the door.

Tools were sourced from Mrs K's garage and most importantly, Mrs K's dog, T, again came to say hello to the GoodGymers 🐕. Once T was happy, she went back inside and Kash and Sevan could get started cutting things back. Like their mission earlier in the day, this one had it's own scent too, of rosemary not cat poo this time, which was much more pleasant.

Mrs K had specifically told the pair not to cut back her lavender too much, so Kash and Sevan tried to find the line between freeing up more of the path and leaving enough of the plants that they'd still look pleasing to Mrs K, her neighbours and T. With most of them, they cut back pretty harshly knowing that they'd survive and grow back strong. Sevan went easier on the lavender, leaving a bend in the line that took over more of the path.

After a bit of weeding, the front garden was complete and it was onto the back, where Kash and Sevan continued the job of removing brambles that Kash had started the week before. Sevan cut vines near to the ground and Kash chopped them into little pieces then bagged them. With the time they had left, the largest flowerbed was almost freed of brambles, at least on the surface.

With time up, T came to inspect the progress and give the GoodGymers a happy, licky send off. Just as importantly, Mrs K was happy with the progress too and that she wouldn't damage her car on the lavender (or more likely other shrubs). She stopped short of licking Kash and Sevan, expressing her thanks with words instead.

I went grocery shopping for Mr S, expecting a list full of goodies. But all he asked for was kitchen paper roll and bottles of water. Easy, right? Not according to Google Maps! It kept sending me round in circles, shouting, “Make a U-turn!” By the time I finally arrived at the shop, I was so dizzy I nearly needed a mop-up. The moral of the story? Mr S wanted a simple shop, but Google Maps had me going round the bottle way!

Mrs K loved her garden, but could no longer tend to it because of reduced mobility and poor health. Although she didn't live entirely alone, her companion, T, wasn't much help with gardening. T was a dachshund - one of the most adorable creatures you can imagine - but not designed to wield rakes or shears in her short, cute paws. That's what GoodGymers are for.

Enter Sevan and Kash, a GoodGym duo who crossed the border of the Ealing Borough on Saturday afternoon and ran through Boston Manor Park, then along the canal to Isleworth. Mrs K greeted them with the common warning:

"You haven't seen a garden in such a bad state."

Oh, yes, they had. Entering Mrs K's back garden, the GoodGymers didn't face the wall of brambles, which was already one step better than the most overgrown places. There was still plenty to do. To help Sevan and Kash focus, Mrs K outlined the priorities: sweeping leaves and cutting back a bay tree, a rose bush and a hedge. Then, with a polite excuse, she retired upstairs.

"To watch cricket", she added furtively.

Kash, who loved cutting things back, decided that in that particular garden Sevan was better suited to the trimming jobs, being the taller of the two, while Kash, literally closer to the ground, would take care of the leaves. She didn't resist chopping a few brambles here and there, explaining that it was to reach the dry leaves underneath.

Sevan pruned the rose and the bay tree, then cut bushes to open the passage to the part of the garden behind the corner of the house. He was careful not to chop too much, as such an act would be hard to reverse in the short term.

Mrs K was pleased with the transformation and wanted to reward Sevan and Kash with a little tip. The GoodGymers politely declined the offer, noting that stroking T was the loveliest reward they had already earned.

A month after another mission across London to fit a new roller blind, Kash and Sevan found themselves in an identical situation a lot closer to home. It wasn't only fitting a new blind that matched the previous mission. They were in the kitchen again and they were kneeling on the worktop in front of the kitchen window, which was (again) agony for their shins. Mrs A had a solution for this... cushions and they did an amazing job ☁️!

When it came to fitting the new blind, Kash and Sevan had been told that no tools would be needed, which confused them a bit. Were they supposed to magic the screws into the wooden batten above the windows? 🧙🧙🏻‍♂️ Not even their skills stretched to that. Mrs A claimed she'd said that no drill was needed, which didn't line up with the unopened instructions either. In any case, Mrs A didn't have a drill or screwdrivers that could be used. Luckily, Sevan had raided his tool bag in the morning and came prepared with 2 of his own screwdrivers which allowed the GoodGymers to complete the task.

"This feels like déjà vu" - Kash
"You mean déjà screw" - Sevan

The biggest problem putting up the new blind was getting everything level. With a bit of trial and error and a lot of force to get the blind attached to the wall, it worked perfectly first time. Kash and Sevan had progressed slowly to get it right first time, possibly helped by Mrs A's prayers nearby for more light to enter her kitchen.

Feeling quite pleased with themselves, Mrs A then told Kash and Sevan that she also wanted a curtain rail to be put up in her bedroom. That was unexpected and they only had 30 minutes left ⏳.

Mrs A gave the GoodGymers choices. She had 2 curtain poles available, so Kash and Sevan chose the easiest one to fit to try and wrap up on time. It was easier than the blind to position and measure, so they sped through getting the fixings into the wall, again missing some key tools. With the rail in place, it took a few attempts to get the curtain to sit well and they were done, pretty much on time.

"If I ever need to put up my own blinds, after all these missions I'll know exactly what to do." - Sevan

As soon as I could finish work, I was off on a 17 km there-and-back run to Hounslow, to dispose of Mr T’s neatly sorted recycling and a bag of rubbish, and - perhaps more importantly - to give some peace to a mind anguished by a day of working alone at a screen.

A rubbish mission? By no means.