Only a few weeks in, and Miss N has GoodGym shopping mastered - she has photos of all the items that she wants readily prepared (which in my world is just perfect). An easy list to follow though this week - however the only flavour of liquid detergent that Aldi had was Coconut Crush, whereas Miss N was insistent on Tropical Lily (when I called her to double check). To think someone somewhere has the job of coming up with these product names...

A shorter than usual list for Mr R this ("looks like it might rain later") particular Monday afternoon, so was an easy and pleasant walk to and from Tesco to get what he needed. We ended up having a long conversation about the challenges of disposing of old/unwanted furniture as Mr R has a background in antiques...yet again another fascinating school day.

With the Waitrose at the Brunswick Centre currently closed for refurbishment until 24th June, Mrs S had to come up with Plan B for her shopping this morning - fortunately she'd given this some thought and pointed me in the direction of John Lewis on Oxford Street, where conveniently there is a Waitrose Food Hall in its basement, and more importantly it opens at 9am!

So with dictated list in hand, I set off in a new direction this morning along Oxford Street to find treasure amongst new aisles - as I was partway through gathering, the phone rang and Mrs S asked if I'd mind also getting two pieces of Salmon for her as well - kindly lady at the fish counter was only too happy to oblige, and I was soon back (quicker than going to Brunswick!) emptying the bags onto Mrs S' kitchen table.

I played abit of adults Lego.

Last night’s session kicked off with a heartwarming moment - before we’d even picked a single bag of litter!

Armed with our litter pickers outside Hyde Park, we found ourselves attempting to herd a confused gosling safely across the busy road. Unsure what to do, we watched on until the mother goose appeared — loudly making her presence known — and the pair were happily reunited. A very wholesome start to the evening - and can we claim an extra good deed for that?!

With spirits high, we then split off across various green spaces in central London to tackle litter hotspots. Plenty of bags were filled over the course of the evening, which always feels positive, although the sheer volume of cigarette butts remains pretty depressing. Still, we persevered and made a solid dent.

To round off the night, we finished with a series of fitness stations working legs, arms and core — a proper full-body finisher after all the running and litter picking.

Next week we’re back at the Abbey Centre — see you then!

Three brilliant Hounslow GoodGymmers made the journey over to Westminster last night to help transform a hidden little space tucked away in the middle of a maze-like estate. It definitely took some finding but once we arrived there was plenty waiting for us.

One local resident had invested in an impressive collection of herbs and flowers ready to plant - all very much fitting into the purple theme. After some careful positioning, it was time to get everything into the ground.

It wouldn’t be a community gardening task without the usual challenges: hard soil, a selection of “interesting” tools, the puzzle of making the planting plan work, and some particularly persistent allergenics floating around. But the team powered through and managed to get all the lavender, sage and thyme planted.

The result looked fantastic by the end of the evening, and the task owner was delighted — confirmed by a lovely message from him this morning. With a bit of rain over the next few days, the space is going to be flourishing before long: sweet scents, more flowers, better biodiversity, and extra forage for the nearby bee hives. All the good things.

Great work team!