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Good morning, Rusty!
We have the exact opposite to you....it is warm(er) and wet here!
Not a very nice day at all!
Yes, it sounds sensible to stay indoors if your pavements and roads are so very icy.
Not worth risking a fall or road accident.
What is being done to Answerbank ? (I don't go on that website)
Do you use it often?
Now, tell me....what is this I am hearing this morning about Roger Federer's being accused of "legal cheating" by Pat Cash?
It would seem from what I have read that Roger took time out for injury at the end of the fourth set yesterday?
And Pat Cash considers that this was "cheating"?
I know nothing at all about this, as this wasn't shown in the BBC's "Highlights"!
Play just apparently continued on into the fifth set.
But surely one is allowed time out for injury anyway........and this is not something that Roger makes a habit of doing.
Did you see this happen? Can you fill me in?

Elle, I've still got the Sunday paper, with Pat Cash's column. He said 'I'm afraid that Federer's victory over Wawrinka in the semi-final left me with a bit of a sour taste. I didn't like the way he took the extended injury time-out at the end of the fourth set when his opponent had really snatched the momentum from him. Apparently Federer is claiming that he needed strapping very high on his leg and, to preserve public decency, it had to be done in the privacy of the locker room. But play was held up for over 10 minutes over something that was basically a loss of physical condition and should not have been allowed. The rule makers and tournament doctors have got to wise up to this kind of thing. In this regard, Federer is normally the fairest player on the tour and, although I know it won't increase my popularity, I have to point an accusing finger at him. Let's call it a gross bending of the rules, shall we?'

Hello, Elle!
I think AB is getting itself up to date and generally trying to make the site better, which is good.
Yes, I visit it regularly, but I rarely contribute anything.
I do not know what Cash is saying.
Federer had "medical time-out" which is within the rules.
Cash should take his beef to the rules makers, not Federer.
I do not know why Federer needed the time, though, he seemed fine to me, throughout the match.
I think we are going to "warmer and wetter" after today.
I think I'll go for a walk after all.
I'll stay on the grass and rougher bits and should be fine!

Update, Elle!
Just had an email from AB to say site is down and will be back up at 5.00 pm.
Be interesting to see the changes!

Sorry, Elle, I gave you Pat Cash's view on Roger's 'legal cheating'/ gamesmanship in the semi-final. I hadn't yet read about Roger needing/taking another medical timeout (at another fairly important stage) in yesterday's match too.

Hello, Malone!
Times 23a is just awful!

Hi, Rusty!
Oops, I seem to have chucked in a hand grenade......
Sorry to take so long in getting back to you on this - my daughter rang up and has been chatting for ages!
I do so wish someone would not try to take the gilt off the gingerbread........
Whenever something nice happens - like the brilliant tennis yesterday, and the exceptional good will throughout between the players - Roger and Rafa being good friends too - someone will always stick their oar in to spoil it.......in this instance , Pat Cash and his acerbic comments.
I cannot see that Roger did anything wrong?
The rules on injury 'time out' are there to be followed if necessary?
Yes, if you do go out , then be careful and walk on the grass.
I think I may need an umbrella! and definitely welly boots!




Hello, Malone!
I 'm finding it difficult to follow all this injury business, as the BBC left out these injury times from their Highlights!
I am only learning about them now......
But I understood that in the semi -final, Wrawrinka took injury time before Roger did?
What's sauce for the goose...?
And it does surely follow that if Roger had a medical problem in the semi -final, the same problem might recur in the final....?
It is not as though he is a competitor who trades on this kind of thing.....

Yes, Rusty, that was an awful clue - I struggled initially to see how it worked (and then decided that it didn't, it's just very bad).

For those without the paper, it's ...
Established writer puts in to port mentioned in speech (8).

I also didn't like a clue in the Times Quick Cryptic...15 Scottish churchgoers: we're very cold when speaking (8). The answer itself is fine - but it definitely isn't a single, eight-letter word.

Hello, Elle!
Whatna hand grenade is this?
I don't follow?
I did not hear or read what Pat Cash said.
But if it is in the rules that players can take "injury time-outs" I do not understand his beef?
I disapprove of Team Sky and Wiggins use of TUE's but they say it does not break rules.
Greipel, Kittel, and Froome, to name a few riders and fellow competitors, say it should not happen and I agree.
I would not like to think Federer is a cheat in that respect.
Cash should take it up with whoever made the rules, surely?
Just heading out for a wee while now.

Elle, I don't think Pat Cash would have made his comments lightly - I felt he was a little disappointed in Roger who, as Pat said, is always a very fair player. I think much of it hinges on what is (technically, and by the tennis authorities' rules) an 'injury'. I know the rules for courtside treatment are clearly defined . I didn't see the Wawrinka/Federer match, and didn't see anything about the medical time-outs until today. I read that Stan came back with his knee bandaged, and I read Roger's quote that 'I only did the time-out because I thought "He took one already, maybe I can take one for a change". '
If Roger was 'injured' during both of these big matches, I have no problem with him needing and getting medical time-outs. The media love any question of controversy, conflict, so they might be less reasonable!