Four seasoned GoodGymmers spring into action
4 GoodGymers made their way to help an isolated older person in Lewisham.
- Wednesday, 14th of November 2018
Here's what Mr D of SE23 had to say about the mission:
Mr D's wife called us to pass on her thanks to the runners who came to help her yesterday, saying that they were 'really good' and they 'managed to do everything.' She also said she was quite nervous having four strangers coming over at first but she was 'really pleased' that she did. Well done, guys!
This mild autumnal night, I met up with not one, not two, but three other GoodGymmers to spring into action by moving some furniture for Mr D! I'd met Birchlyn on a previous (summer) mission, but was also pleased to meet Neil and Tim for the first time (although I've seen their names on so many run reports that I feel like we're old friends) 😄
Mr D is currently in hospital, and his care staff would like to release him home so that he can recover in more comfortable surroundings. However, to do that, space needs to be made in his living room for a hospital bed and a recliner chair. Our job today was to move some furniture to create this space.
The list of things that needed to be moved to create this space was incredibly specific. In short, we were to:
Move upstairs:
a set of drawers;
a table and set of chairs;
some personal effects (including a lot of dvds!); and
an armchair.
And to move within the room:
a cabinet full of glasses;
a small bookcase of dvds; and
a small cd tower.
To try and keep everything straight, and knowing that my memory isn't the best post-work, I made a couple of crib post-it notes for us to work from. This is just how I roll. For the record, I'm also really fun at parties 🎉
Introducing ourselves to Mr D's wife and one of her friends, we quickly ran through my crib notes with Mrs D to make sure we were clear on what needed doing. The only real change was that the armchair was simply to be moved to an adjoining room instead of upstairs. Also the glasses had already been removed from the cabinet, which meant that my contact with them (which is inversely proportional to their life span) was greatly reduced. To be frank, it's difficult to express the depth of my relief at this, so let's hope this emoji helps 🤩
Having everything spelled out so clearly meant that we could rapidly get through the reorganisation. In fact, with the four of us there, it took less than 45 minutes to get through everything on the list, accept some refreshments from Mrs D's friend and even have our picture taken at the end of it! There wasn't even a hairy moment when moving the table upstairs, despite the number of patently breakable plates that were mounted on the wall.
Mrs D and her friend were happy with how smoothly everything went (and presumably the lack of breakages), and we spent a few minutes chatting with them before making our goodbyes. Hopefully delivery of the hospital bed can now be arranged and Mr D will be out before winter hits!
Report written by Elizabeth
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