The third and last mission of a pretty energetic New Year’s Day brought Kash to South Acton for a classic end-of-the-week shop for Mr G. Luckily, Sainsbury’s was open until 8 pm despite the public holiday.

Although the new year just started, Mr G welcomed Kash with his old shopping list, which needed an upgrade at some point. The previous week’s helper had attempted to bring some fresh ideas into Mr G’s shopping basket, and Kash wanted to know what the outcome was.

”I heard Sevan bought you a sweetheart cabbage last week. Did you like it?” - Kash

”I must have, I’ve eaten it.” - Mr G.

Confident that the cute-named cabbage purchase won’t end up in disaster like the infamous kale experiment, Kash put the new vegetable in the basket alongside staples like brussels sprouts and blueberry yoghurt.

Having helped Mr G unpack the groceries, Kash took a heavy rubbish bag downstairs into the bin and set off for a run home, completing a total of 20 km of running on the first day of the year because... why not?

For Ms K's third recent mission, what she needed was clear. To turn 3 flat IKEA boxes into a bed to sit alongside the 2 wardrobes that were built during her 2 previous missions. The new information however was that it was a storage bed with 2 drawers on each side, so that would take more time to build and it was the first time either Kash or Sevan were assembling a storage bed.

Over the next 90 minutes, screws were searched for, dowels were deliberated over and headboards were hammered in. Finally, the outer frame of the bed came together with no drawers built or slats in place yet to hold the mattress. On seeing the size of the bed, Ms K cursed as she realised she that she wouldn't be able to open the drawers if she continued with her IKEA bedroom design.

Ms K went back to the drawing board to see how she could move her furniture around or replace items to make everything fit. Maybe a large chest of drawers would need to go? Some new ideas were discussed and discarded, so Ms K will come up with a new plan before her next mission... and there may be even more flat pack furniture delivered that will need to be built!

Kash started the New Year in Surrey, where GoodGym is not yet a thing, so she ran 12km to Feltham, thirsty for an impactful adventure. What could have stood in the way of reaching the mission location? Private roads! Kash had to add a kilometre or so to her original route and arrived slightly late at Mrs N's. The lady was nonetheless delighted to see the GoodGymer again and wished her a happy New Year.

While Mrs N prepared her signature Greek coffee for Kash, her husband, Mr A, explained the priorities of the gardening task. Contrary to Kash's assumptions, it was not the overgrown bush that had to be tackled first, but the paving threatened by patches of grass, brambles, and stems of future bushes that had established themselves between the slabs. Mr A accepted that Kash was unlikely to cut back the bush in the front garden within the 90-minute mission limit... but Kash didn't!

The GoodGymer, being an avid fan of chopping unruly branches, gazed longingly at the bush, but resisted the temptation and swapped secateurs for a trowel to scrape the grass between the slabs. The secateurs came in handy later to cut the woody stems that shouldn't be part of the paving.

After removing all the grass and sweeping the green waste into a pile, Kash concluded with satisfaction that there was still time for trimming the branches she was after. Ten minutes later, the bush got a new haircut, and the heap of cuttings grew twofold. Mrs N was very grateful for the help and said she admired the idea of GoodGym and would have loved to join the community herself if only her back problems and caring for her elderly mum and husband weren't on the way.

They say good things come in threes. How about fours? Four GoodGymers, four kilometres run and four bags of litter collected. Doesn't that sound like much bigger wins?

Alan and Maria from GoodGym Hounslow joined Ealing regulars, Steph and Kash, for the last chance to do a group run in 2025. The route took them from Ealing Broadway to the notorious alleyway between the Holy Family Primary School in West Acton and the A40.

The litter hunt brought a variety of findings: a hula hoop, a lamp, tennis balls, and last year's Christmas tree, complete with presents (empty cans and bottles) underneath. The fantastic four finished off the fruitful litter picking session with an uphill run back - a group run in North Ealing doesn't count without a little hill session!

With 2025 rubbish done and dusted, we're looking forward to the first group run in the New Year, and hoping you'll join us for a woodchipping task in Walpole Park!