It took two attempts to get this mission started due to Central Line works last week. It definitely took two of us to shift the extremely heavy bed for Mrs S. And it will take two missions to complete the task of setting up the wardrobe and organising her books.

Such a hot day we were exhausted before we started. Louise arrived particularly drained from a long journey and an arduous mission the night before but a little rest and a lot of water later she was her usual force of energy and we soon got on with inching that big old bed and old carpet round the room,

Mrs S seemed pleased with what we managed to do and even gave us a cold drink and a bunch of flowers each at the end but she really needs another visit to finish the job.

A quick session to water as it's hot out there!

Discovered that someone took a full bag if compost that I left in a secure area, why would anyone steal that?!

anyways planters looking good!

Just the 2 of us, we found some spots nearby that had litter scattered about and we ended up with 2 bags worth. No new ideas about what else we could do in the area, we did have a good chin wag though.

What a way to start the week!

Sourcing materials🌺: I started the session with a visit to a garden centre to get some compost, perennials (Choysia and Lavender) and annuals (petunias and impatiens).

Tidying up🧹: Usually there is some litter/cigarette butts in the planters but this morning there was hardly anything (thanks to the cleansing team in Hainault, who do the most important job of all - daily planter maintenance - thank you!). I did some weeding, picked out an apple (🙄) , washed out coffee out of one planter (seriously 😡.

Replanting: One of the planters has died its death, I think due to being pulled out a while back - everything dried out and weeds have taken over. Surprisingly it was very easy to take it out and put it into bags provided by cleansing van people, who kindly said we can just leave these by the bins and they will collect. I laid the compost in stages, watering in between as it was quite dry and fluffy. I've planted fresh plants and flowers, topped up with bark and gave it a proper soak. Hopefully, it all settles and blooms soon 

Watering : This was a bicep-busting work as usual and I ensured that all reservoirs are filled, all planters were soaked, especially under the bridge as they don't get rained on. It's quite satisfying knowing the plants will not be thirsy for a bit!

Chatting 😊: It's always nice to meet new people and catch-up with the ones I know whilst doing this, station staff offered to help create a laminate sign for our storage so it's not used for cleaning purposes, and it's lovely to hear from those who appreciate a little bit of greenery here - thank you for your kind words!

It's always quite satisfying afterwards and I was glad to see the rain as well, it's been waaaay to dry this spring so any additinal water is always welcome! Until next time!

Three of us arrived at Frenford Food Bank to shelve up two supermarket deliveies. The items arrived muddled up within the crates so there was a little presorting which was soon completed and the items were trundled down to the shelves.

It's not the first time that the three of us have done this and the dream team were done in no time with nice tidy shelves of cans and other goods.

Empty crates were cleared away and we were off home for an early lunch.

OK, there might have been a little bit of literary freedom there... we didn't actually go down any driveways, but went past loads of them which is almost the same!

Unfortunately a few others could not make it in the end, so it was just the lovely Ambra and me setting off on a run, armed with litter pickers & bags, 'just in case'. Ofcourse we came across litter, sadly, so 2 bags were dropped at one of our usual points at the Green Man roundabout.

Making use of the improved weather we set off to dip into Wanstead Park to check up on the bluebells, but sadly we were too late - April seems to be the best time.

We did have a nice surprise just a little further up in the park though.... just as Ambra was explaining her surprise of coming across a cow in the park, we turned a corner and saw cows! They seem to be a rugged breed used to manage vegetation.

Currently next session is in 3 weeks, skipping Bank Holiday Monday to pop down to the babybank on 3/6.