Runners and Gunners

Two GoodGymers in red and white t-shirts emerged from the Arsenal tube station at lunchtime.

"At least we're wearing the right colours'" Sevan observed.

A short run from the station was Mrs J's flat, which Sevan and Kash had visited before for some serious moss scraping in the front garden. This time, the backyard was the priority, with its overgrown pyracantha hedge. How did the Ealing GoodGymers know what it was called? Well, it was the same thorny bush that inhabited Pear Tree Park, and Sevan and Kash were no strangers to giving that shrub a haircut. Sevan, ready for the prickly treatment, used a green waste bag as a shield and emerged intact from the clash with the spiky hedge.

There was only one pair of secateurs, so Sevan and Kash took turns to use it. While one person chopped, the other was relegated to the "groundwork", weeding the patch of gravel. The membrane underneath seemed inefficient as the weeds had grown on top of it. The last priority was a flowerbed, full of alkanet and slugs.

The otherwise quiet 90 minutes of the mission was interrupted once with a distinct explosion of cheer.

"Arsenal must have scored" Sevan said.

Mrs J came out twice to the garden: first, to bring GoodGymers tea, second, to ask whether they would have time for a 30-minute job in the front garden. The task time was coming to an end, and Sevan and Kash had already been scheduled for another mission afterwards, so they advised Mrs J it would be better to have a follow-up session at another time. The time often gets distorted during GoodGym missions and what seems like a 30-minute job can easily take an hour.

"You've done a brilliant job there!" Mrs J exclaimed.

Sevan and Kash wished Mrs J a lovely rest of the weekend and ran to their final mission in Islington on the day.