A return visit to Miss N, who wanted me to go to a Turkish foodstore on the Edgware Road to get a few "Mediterranean items", before heading on to Lidl - including "Pearl Rice", which (in hindsight foolishly...) I thought would be easy to find.

Upon arriving at the shop, and navigating the narrowest of narrow aisles, I found myself in the dried goods section confronted with the biggest selection of Rice I've ever seen...but not one bag was actually called Pearl, so I had to ring Miss N to check exactly what she wanted.

After a quick conversation with one of the shop assistants, we settled on Declan's Italian midfield cousin - fortunately when I got back to Miss N and produced the rice she was delighted with the selection.

Last night’s GoodGym Westminster session kicked off with Khai and I meeting at Hyde Park before setting off on a steady run over to the Abbey Centre in Victoria, where Mourad was waiting for us.

The Abbey Centre is a fantastic local hub supporting older residents and the wider community. It offers everything from social activities and hot meals to wellbeing support, helping tackle isolation and keeping people connected. It’s a vital space, and we were there to lend a hand in keeping it welcoming and functional.

We had two main jobs for the evening:

Out in the therapy garden, Khai got stuck in clearing up after a busy planting session with the centre’s elderly volunteers. There was soil, tools, and a fair bit of mud to tackle, but before long the space was looking tidy and ready for its next use.

Meanwhile, inside, Mourad grabbed a shammy cloth and took on the back staircase from top to bottom—giving the handrails a much-needed clean. It was a proper workout in itself!

Before long, we all regrouped and joined forces on the staircase. With everyone pitching in, many hands really did make light work on the final stretch.

There was just time for one last push as we made our way back up the stairs, and then right back down again searching for an exit that wasn't locked. At least it added to our daily step count!

Great work everybody.

Next week we’re heading to St Andrew’s, the oldest youth club in the world. Hope you can join!

I was curious to see how I'd manage getting down Mr R's (steepish) steps for this mission today (after yesterday's little running adventure around the streets of London) - surprisingly ok was the verdict. He too was keen to find out how it went. Fortunately the shopping proved significantly less arduous, although he was keen to ensure I got two loaves of the particular Rye bread, and of course, only the English Asparagus!

Miss M proudly announced to Kash and Sevan that after today, she would only have one more mission before her decluttering would be complete. Wonderful!

Miss M had 2 big laundry bags, 3 smaller bags and a small box ready to go for them. The box said Steiff and Sevan commented that it was a fancy toy brand. Miss M agreed and said that the bear was in her flat. There were only socks in the box, which was disappointing. Sevan emptied the box and left it behind for Miss M's bear to live in.

On the way to the charity shop, Sevan and Kash spoke about Steiff bears and what the point in having collectible teddy bears was. Sevan pointed out that they had another, more regular teddy bear to donate and there was also a bear in a bag that Kash was carrying. After a short pause:

"Winnie the Pooh" - Sevan
"What?" - Kash
"Winnie the Pooh" - Sevan
"I don't understand. You're saying that WE need a poo?!" - Kash
"No. The bear? In your bag? It's Winnie the Pooh" - Sevan
"Oh! 🤭 This is going to be a more interesting report than I thought" - Kash

They'd finished giggling by the time they got to Fara where it was time for the serious business of donating Miss M's belongings. Unlike previous times, the staff wanted to know what was in the bags. They were happy to take the clothes, DVDs and soft toys, but bedding, blankets and towels weren't useful to them, so were turned away. That left Kash and Sevan to take 80% of the contents back to Miss M, including the Winnie the Pooh towel.

Miss M was disappointed that the fabrics had come back:

"I'm back to square one" - Miss M

Kash and Sevan spoke about the progress Miss M had made and tried to reassure her. Based on the shop assistant's recommmendation, Kash and Sevan suggested contacting a homeless shelter, who may be happy to receive and collect blankets and bedding.

On the way out they heard Miss M talking to herself at the top of the stairwell, saying:

"I'm back to square one" - Miss M

😢

Sunny afternoon in Westminster : both Mourad and Steph Ducat joined Gurseva to provide food to the homeless. Tables out, food out and the Goodgymers started to dish the lovely veggie biryani into take away containers. Customers also had some cookies and some hot drinks like chocolate, tea and coffee. We also handed out some caps to protect them from the sun. Rice and shine : people enjoyed the food and the sun.

As we ran through this morning's dictation, we reached "Apples", and Mrs S asked that I only get her decent ones..."polite and well behaved?" I asked, to which she smiled (thankfully) , and we entered into a lengthy discussion about how actually fruit in the supermarket doesn't taste like it ought to anymore...and with that the apples (and any other fruit), well behaved or otherwise, were firmly struck from the list.