Calwell supervisor Aaron Greene is one of the ACT government's army of workers ensuring Canberra's ovals and other public spaces are kept neatly mown.
It's a job that has become just that little bit tougher in the face of ongoing rain and the challenges of a-still-not-over COVID lockdown.
"We started the season later, of course, due to lockdown," Mr Greene said.
"And a lot more people are getting out exercising [in lockdown]. Using the irrigated playgrounds and not moving for us when we're trying to mow.
"And the weather has been a huge challenge. This rain is really putting us behind.
"We're out there, doing our best. We just need the public to be a bit more patient with us."
To Friday, the October total so far for rainfall was 54.4mm for Canberra Airport, with half of that falling on Thursday.
Tuggeranong had to Friday received 53.4mm in October, with the most rain falling there on October 1 (17.4mm).
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast another 1mm to 2mm on Saturday.
The aptly-named Mr Greene is among a team of workers facing a formidable amount of green stuff.
The mowing area in the ACT is 4907 hectares.
The government crews have 73 mowers.
Each mower covers an average of 68 hectares every four weeks.
A breakdown of the mowing area across the ACT includes:
- Arterial roads - 1446 hectares.
- Open spaces - 2685 hectares.
- Conservation (native grasslands) - 38 hectares.
- Fire fuel (large open spaces on the urban fringe) - 276 hectares.
- Sporting fields - 462 hectares.
Mowing has not been an easy task during lockdown.
Mr Greene said some selfish Canberrans out getting their daily dose of exercise or socialising, such as picnicking on ovals or playgrounds, would not get out of the way of the mowers.
"Literally," he said.
"They'll set their blanket up and then won't move. All we need is five minutes for them to move or go somewhere where we've already mowed.
"If there's people around, we normally leave it to the very last to go anywhere near them.
"The other week, at Point Hut playground, people would just not move, so it's half-done."
Some other COVID restrictions, such as mask-wearing, have not been so much of a challenge.
"We wear a mask, anyway, because of the dust," he said.
Mr Greene said all the workers did their best to keep on top of the grass.
"We come to work, we have a toolbox meeting and we have crews starting at different times, due to COVID, and social distancing and all of that," he said.
"We basically do a daily maintenance check of the machines and grease them up and then we go out and cut grass. All day cutting grass.
"And then we come back and do it all again the next day."
