To round off the weekend, Kash and Sevan were shopping for a new beneficiary, Mr N, who suffered with Asperger's syndrome. It made it hard for him to go to crowded places as they made him anxious, so he'd requested help from GoodGym to deliver his weekly shop. As an Iceland shopper, his groceries ended up being quite bulky and heavy. Having 2 people and pairs of hands was actually really helpful to get everything back to Mr N's flat.

Inside the flat Kash and Sevan were curious why Mr N had asked them to buy dog food when they could see cat feeders and litter trays on the floor. It turned out that Mr N didn't actually own any pets at all. He was caring for stray animals in the community, who he found to be much more agreeable (and less destructive) than humans. The dog food was for a local fox that Mr N had taken a liking to and the cat feeders were for a couple of strays that had been abandoned by another resident in his block. Despite having his own problems, Mr N took the time and effort to care for others in his neighbourhood, but only the ones living good lives.

Ms C was no stranger to Sevan and Kash. In fact, the GoodGymers had met each other for Sevan's first mission at Ms C's. Today, rather than working in her garden, the team was helping with decluttering. Ms C needed to free up some room in her kitchen and was hoping to put some items in the storage behind two fridges that were blocking access to it.

With the bulky appliances out of the way, Sevan and Kash opened the storage door and faced a wall of stuff. There was no more room to use there. Ms C wanted to see everything out and decide what she could part with. It was not an easy task. The GoodGymers quickly ran out of space on the kitchen floor, rarely able to move the items into the corridor, where they meant to be donated or disposed of. In the overwhelming majority of cases, Ms C's verdict was:

"Oh, that's good. I'll keep that."

Ms C wasn't convinced that challenging the need for multiple similar items that served the same purpose could be a good starting point to downsize.

"Another steamer. Do you need two of them?" - Sevan.
"I have four steamers!" - Ms C.

Sevan and Kash weren't sure where all the other steamers were, but the two they had taken out of the storage eventually went back in - just like two cleaning mops, two garden hoses, two mirrors (one with a crack) and three rolls of gift wrapping paper. Some other things that ended up returning to the storage felt like a no-win scenario: not destined to be removed (because reading health data was important), nor meant to be used (because the monitoring results were too unsettling to uncover).

Removing the largest box - a CRT-type TV - was the big win, yet Ms C advised putting it in the corridor for the time being, hoping that she could arrange a charity shop collection. Fingers crossed that one way or another, she will be able to get rid of it soon.

Ms C was cautious of the time, so Sevan and Kash managed to go through everything in the storage, then put back all the belongings worth keeping. They put away some items from the kitchen not needed immediately, left out other things Ms C thought she'd start using, and created extra room in the storage for future use. The GoodGym duo and Ms C made worthwhile decluttering progress - one storage space at a time!

Acton Junior parkrun's roster was overflowing with volunteers today. So much so that there were 5 (yup, five!) tail walkers who included Kash. She was disappointed that today's Run Director, Joanna, didn't assign her the orange tail walker hi-vis with the leopard's tail. Maybe next time...

Most of the ice around the course had melted by the time the runners got going, so the black ice warning cones, placed during the course check, were redundant. They looked like they were randomly placed for the children to slalom through and dance around. They left marshals Steph and Sevan a bit confused too.

There were more confused people on the course too as 3 adult men showed up after the start and asked if they were late for the start of today's parkrun. They may have been young at heart, but Sevan explained that today's event was for children only and they should head to Gunnersbury Park next Saturday. Not counting the 3 men, 45 other young hearts enjoyed today's free, organised parkrun, whizzing past Harvey who recorded their times and Alan who dished out finish tokens to the happy finishers.

After a recent visit by Michelle, Ms L's garden still needed a lot of work. She had a big list of improvements still to make in her front garden, with removing some long grasses at the top of her list. Looking around, there was a lot of ivy too, which Sevan asked about. Although Ms L hadn't mentioned it, it turned out that she had strong, scary feelings about the ivy.

"Have you ever seen that film, Day of the Triffids?"
"The ivy is coming in through the windows and I feel like it's out to get me!" - Ms L

Well, the triffids had a date with GoodGym today. Sevan and Kash needed to clear the ivy to free Ms L of her post-apocalyptic vibes. The ivy was growing up both sides of the windows at the front, covering parts of them and creeping in through the vents. One side of the garden had a wall covered in ivy too.

Kash started clearing a path through the front garden and chopping the tall grasses that were top of Ms L's list, while Sevan started moving planters and other obstacles to get to the base of the ivy plants. The plan wasn't to remove the ivy today, only to cut the base of the vines to kill off everything above.

Sevan lopped away at the bottom of the ivy next to the front door, trying and failing to dodge a rose bush which he kept getting caught on. He discovered a thick ivy root/branch running under the render that he couldn't reach. Kash generated a huge amount of cuttings that were packed into some giant garden waste bags. Big enough to hold both Kash and Sevan inside.

When the centre of the garden was cleared, Sevan made it to the far side to find and chop the 1 really thick ivy vine that was terrorising that side of the house. Again moving obstacles and pink flamingos was key. Kash tackled the wall shared with the neighbour, doing a superb job of eliminating the ivy there. Importantly, the vines creeping in through the windows and vents were removed too.

The enormous garden waste bag was filled and a second started, leaving Ms L very grateful with the improvement. She'll rest easy knowing that the killer plant had itself been killed (for the moment anyway).

For half of the eight GoodGymers, who visited Western Road on a chilly Saturday morning, the day started with parkrun. The nearby Southall Park event celebrated its 200th occasion and 4th birthday. Sevan and Steph Ducat couldn't miss the opportunity and ran to volunteer at the parkrun, while Richard, one of the GoodGym new joiners, ran the course. Chris also decided to begin the morning with a parkrun, but his local Gunnersbury one, from where he cycled to Southall. Iram also came on her bike, and Kash ran from Ealing along the canal.

There has already been plenty of activity just to reach Western Road, and the 3-hour session ahead would involve even more exercise. Fortunately, Janpal from Southall Community Alliance, the organiser of the community day at the urban garden, came prepared with a fruit bowl, tea, coffee, pastries and samosas to keep the energy levels high!

The January session meant preparations for the next season's food growing, and our team focused on the central veg bed in the polytunnel. First, we removed last year's stakes and remaining chili plants, and then topped the beds with a super-nutritious mix of three layers:

1. Rich magic soil donated by the police
2. Potent manure, marinated for a year
3. Good, old woodchip

While the rest of the team got busy carrying and tipping bags with soil, Iram and Sophie were picking chili peppers from the bush to save their seeds for growing next season's crops. Despite the temperature in the polytunnel being 5 degrees (so noticeably warmer than outside), chili-picking was brutal for the fingers with no gloves on. Sophie later wholeheartedly welcomed the manure-shovelling as a more dynamic alternative, where she could keep moving and stay warm.

Winter or not, the day brought to the Western Road Urban Garden not only the core crew: Janpal, Paul and Ash, along with the eight GoodGymers, but also a group of volunteers from Let's Go Southall and Mr Bhasin from neighbouring Manor Way Allotments. What a turnout! With such a strong team, we finished not one, but all three veg beds - and all the samosas - in no time! It was great to see guests from GoodGym Hounslow, Chris and Maxime, and welcome Richard and Sophie to our Ealing team.

Ash has shared the plans for the first quarter of the year - one of them involves an exciting shed building project! Meanwhile, our February session will feature clearing the space for the shed and for replanting part of the native hedge. Join us next month to get involved in the bold plans at WRUG. We've been working with them from the start for two years now, and know that visiting the garden regularly is the best way to see the astonishing transformations between the seasons!

Today was a special day at Southall Parkrun : not only having the presence of Deirdre Costigan(MP Ealing Southall) who ran by the way but because it was Southall 200th parkrun and also the 4th anniversary. Happy birthday Southall parkrun. Despite the cold, 258 park run addicted people turned up to either run or walk. Or were they there for the cake?! Loads of volunteers present including 3 Goodgymers. Jags welcomed all the newcomers, Sevan was the funnel manager and Steph Ducat was double marshal as had the position which has 2 sides to cheer. Anecdote today is that one person inaugurated Trail Park run as decided at the round about to go cross country instead of the tarmac. Deirdre's photograher had to run quicker to be able to snap her at the finish line. On the route we also had a runner blasting music from his boum box...well done in getting across the line with the extra weight but also putting the tunes in to motivate everyone.

By the way - no cake left in the park - all eaten!!!

Five hardy GoodGymers from Kingston, Merton, and Ealing braved a soggy journey, and a few navigational detours, to support Full Cycle tonight.

Despite the downpour, the team shifted into gear to tackle the list:

• Moving bikes and wheels upstairs.
• Sorting parts and pairing up a wheel load of pedals.
• Rolling tubes and flattening cardboard at a tyre-less pace.
• Braving the rain (again) to lug metal and tyres out for collection - truly spoke-tacular resilience.

Massive kudos for showing up and powering your way through the list of jobs. You’ve definitely earned a warm evening in and some serious January Challenge credit.