A true story: I was once in California on a hot August day. We’d been walking for five or six hours, and our water had run out a few hours previously. We chose a burger restaurant because it had a shady outside seating area, and as we sat down, a waiter was already there. They filled our glasses with cold water and ice, and I can still remember the sweating condensation on the outside of the glass. Then, he turned to each of us in turn, looked us both straight in the eyes, and said: “Y’all got to hydrate to be great!” And then he was off, and we just stared after him.

I was recalling this on Wednesday evening as I arrived in Woolwich. As my colleague put it earlier in the day: the weather is sub-optimal. And as I heard someone else put it on the tube: it is precipitating very heavily.

It was very wet.

But we are not made of sugar. Five of us, Alex, Julian, Marta, me, and our run leader, Jen, met outside the Crossrail station dressed in brightly coloured ‘waterproof’ clothing. And I must say my mood, which had taken a dip while travelling over, lifted exponentially as we chatted and caught up. It was lovely. And then we had to think of what we would call an office spider plant. As you read this, I am sure better names will have instantly popped into your head without much effort. Still, to document the evening, we chose Charlotte (from EB White’s Charlotte’s Web) and Peter Parker (from – well, if you don’t already know, where have you been?)

Jen was also cognisant of us getting cold, and so we did a quick warm-up of dynamic exercises – of leg swings and ankle rotations – and then we had a carefree jog up to Shrewsbury House. We were met by the team, who’d prepared for us an entire assortment of cleaning weapons. There were brooms of different widths and lengths (and brush types); buckets with sponges and cloths and cleaning sprays; and a hoover, should we want it. 

We left the hoover and headed over to the sports facility at Shrewsbury House, which caters for plenty of activities, including martial arts and jiu-jitsu. We got to it. Julian and Marta dusted the walls, removing Halloween-themed cobwebs, but sparing the spiders because of our earlier naming task. Alex took the largest broom and swept the floors clean. And I did very little actually. But I did have a very good time. 

We finished by staring out the hanging punching bag. And then Julian, Marta, Alex, Jen, and me, we all beat the hell out of it.

Thank you for a very lovely task and evening, folks. Turns out, a good dose of hydration can make us feel pretty great. :)

END