We gave it our chest effort
2 GoodGymers made their way to help an isolated older person in Southwark.
- Sunday, 24th of March 2019
To round off my GoodGym weekend, I met up with Mridula for a mission in Southwark.
Our task was to help Ms A by exchanging two chests of drawers on different floors. Her husband has relatively recently gone into care, and she needed a hand moving these items so that she can start sorting through their belongings.
It turned out that Mridula had helped to move some furniture for Ms A sometime last year, and was very much looking forward to meeting her again (less so her stairs, but unfortunately stairs come as part of the package).
After we'd made our hellos, Ms A showed us the drawers to be exchanged. They were proper old drawers, designed to be installed once and left in one place forever, and so were naturally resistant to change.
Unfortunately that meant that, try as we might, Mridula and I couldn't angle the drawers properly to get them fully down the stairs (there was a pesky corner that came into play). We reckon that we need at least one more GoodGymmer so that the drawers can be lifted clear over the bannisters where the stairs do a 180 degree turn (preferably two more (& very tall) GoodGymmers, because the steps are relatively steep).
And so we left one of the chest of drawers upstairs, de-drawered and ready for another mission to exchange the bones of that chest of drawers with the other one.
Despite not being able to fully complete the mission, Ms A still seemed happy with our attempt, and Mridula and I spent a happy 45 minutes or so chatting with her before making our final goodbyes. My favourite part of the conversation revolved around phishing scams, and whether or not a future phishing scam will involve a nefarious ne'er-do-well known, ironically, as "Good Jim". We also found a tsundere cat to play with as we walked to a nearby tube station - he looked grumpy, but was obviously sat on a front stoop for pets and tickles - so our mission finished on a high note!
Hopefully see you at the same time, same place, next week Mridula (with some extra, taller, people! 🤞)
Report written by Elizabeth
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Old Spike Roastery
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