The rain had gone by the time we all arrived at Camden Square, but we were hoping the earlier downpour had softened the ground a little, because our task today was to prepare the ground for bulb planting, by removing leaf cover, clearing the weeds and churning up the ground a bit

Emilie turned up looking fit from recent Big Half training, while newbie Susannah (sponsored by Google DeepMind) arrived from Texas, USA, via a nearby road where she now resides. Rhonda also attended her first ever task, and similarly had minimal distance to travel to this task. Hope to see you again at distant tasks a whole mile or two away...

By diligent clearance of unwanted foliage and plantage, we were in a position to hose the ground so it was nice and soft, helping us to disrupt the earth and various small creatures living therein with a variety of implements

We were kept busy for an hour, until the ground was in perfect condition for bulbs to be planted. Bags of debris were taken away at such a speed, my picture was all blurry!

There's no truth in the rumour, however, that the snail sitting on Alison's running shoe was a comment on her pace...