It’s always lovely to see Ms Y and do her weekly shop, she is a creature of habit so the path around her local Co-op is always a similar one, today was no exception. As always there is a scramble on the bottom shelf of the bread section to see if there were any longer life loaves at the back …. there were. We chatted before and after about hats and snooker - my new hat would be worth 16 points if potted in the correct order!

I’ve shopped for Mr J for over 18 months and patterns have changed a lot over that time, in the early days it was mostly ASDA. It was really noticeable today that all the vegetables came from the market on Deptford High Street, but there were trips to Iceland (alas it was frozen beans rather than seeing frozen waterfalls) and a new supermarket that specialises in pulses and nuts. He was delighted with the green pumpkin and the red peppers in particular.

After a busy hour trimming shrubs, removing weeds and sweeping paths, Mina and Linda left Ms A’s much-loved back garden in good shape, giving her a cheerful view from her windows and the satisfaction of knowing her plants are tidy and well tended, ready for the approach of springtime.

After a quick warm up of practicing picking up the trees and then throwing them onto the giant piles, it was time to set off to find some abandoned Christmas trees.

My group branched out a little too far and ended up separated after the first road. After searching high and low for abandoned trees it was soon time to head to out meeting point to be reunited.

Only 5 days later than last year and oh so many less trees!! We still relocated 12 Christmas trees to recycling piles at Hilly Fields. These Christmas trees will be used to make woodchip for our local parks.

It was also an evening on celebrations, it's 9 years that we've been doing good in the borough!! Happy 9th Birthday!

Happy Mrs J as ever!

You have to be of a certain age to fully understand the reference from Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot Men …. Today’s mission to Florence Green had its roots in a group run there before Christmas when I noticed their compost bin was full and did they want another one? The answer was ‘yes please!’ So strapped to the base of a shopping trolley I wheeled it the two and a bit miles to Florence Green and set it up.