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Good ideas, elle. I have a lovely puzzle of the planets he has only done once, so will take that and a Famous Five book if I can find one. I have Five Go to Brexit Island or some such!!! Perhaps not. If there is a painting by numbers of Pokemon characters or Slugterras, may get that. Thanks.

Hi, Rusty!
The rain here stopped for a little while......but has started again now......
I may not venture out again!
(I have already had one complete change of clothing, as I was so wet!)
Take "one" sounded okay to me?
Now......onion gravy!
I wasn't assuming that there would be onion gravy already IN your pie!
I was asking whether you were going to eat the pie WITH onion gravy ie make some onion gravy to pour over said pie!
That, you see, is what I would do, were it my pie!
(Gosh, all this talk of steak pies is making me feel hungry! and I don't normally eat lunch!)
I have been chatting on the phone on and off all morning!
Daughter has just called, as she was taking an early lunch hour, to fit in with a conference call .



You're welcome, Ros!
If I have any more "brainwaves", I'll tell you!

Hello, Elle!
It is a lovely day here!
I am just home, a bit breathless as I was tanking on, on my walk.
I have not heard of onion gravy, Elle.
My pie is fine the way it is.
The butcher has won gold medals for his steak pies.
I don't need anything with it except a coffee.
You have been chatting!
You have a wallet to find, never mind the chatting!

Hi, Rusty!
Where did you walk to?
Does "tanking on" mean walking quickly?
That is supposedly the best way to exercise, isn't it?
Walking so that one is slightly out of breath for a short (specified) period.
Then continuing at one's normal pace.
I have searched everywhere feasible - and then some - for this wretched wallet!
If I do find it in some secret/unlikely place - after all this time and effort - I shall keep all my money and jewels (except I have neither) hidden there in future!
I am deserving of a good chat!
I am not finding today's crossword very easy?
But I liked "deliberate" for 1d!
And "duff" for 8d.
I'm only half way through.

Hello, Elle!
"Tanking on" means to travel at great speed or relentlessly according to Chambersl
I think you are correct about the best way to exercise, but because I agree with you, does not mean we are correct.
I speed up when I come to rising ground.
But my normal walking pace is pretty quick anyway.
Look in and around and under the driver's seat in the car.
I have often had things fall out of my pockets there.
I thought it was a good puzzle today.
4 across, threw me for a while because I thought there was a double "l" in galumphed.
Chambers says both!
"Duff" was a good one.

Hi, Rusty!
I always speed up when coming to a hill, or even a minor incline!
I think this is a pretty normal reaction?
"Momentum" is needed to get up the rise !
Therefore the quicker one moves.....the easier the ascent!
My reasoning anyway!
I have finished my puzzle, bar one clue!
9a : L?F? - F?E?D
No idea what this could be in relation to the clue?
I had a little difficulty with 10a........
I would have thought that "guff" meant "bunkUM" and not "bunk" as given?
I don't have that definition for "bunk" in my Chambers.
Another two clues I liked were 13d and 17d - I seem to favour the "down" clues today!
Are you driving Miss Daisy home from work?

Hello, Elle!
I agree with the easier ascent.
It is fast and makes you breathless.
That, they say, is good for heart and lungs.
Now. 9A.
I was ages getting this.
If a player is substituted in football, say, he/she has "left the field".
"Left Field" is an American expression for "bizarre".
I think "bunk" is fine for "guff".
Did Henry Ford or some other well known person not say, "history is bunk".
My Chambers has it under "bunkum".
When I got 13a, I realised the answer was also the title of a novel which featured in a famous murder trial of the 1920's.
I had fish pie for tea.
Miss La Bamba is being collected by her "bestie" and going to her home for tea.

Have seen the wounded soldier and all is well. He is at home and being fed raspberries!

Hi, Rusty!
Now......... are you sitting down?
Firstly.........and beyond all my wildest expectations, my husband's wallet has turned up!
He took the car to be cleaned ......and what did they find.....?
He is supposed to have searched the car thoroughly!
(When I think how I have scoured the house, in the meantime, looking........)
Believe me, he is running very low on Brownie points....!
On the plus side, we are just glad to have it back!
And secondly.........at long last, I have had a response from EuroSport Player.
NOT from the CEO though, but from the "original" guy who keeps sending me different temporary passwords.
Previously, I found that I could access my E.P account using the temporary password, but the minute I followed instructions and changed it to my own "permanent" one, the site became inaccessible again.
So this time, I have left it set on the new temporary password.
This works!
Is there any reason why I shouldn't carry on using the temporary one?
After all, it is not as though I am accessing something private, that I need to keep "secret"?
What do you think?
I would never have got "left field".............why ever should I know an American term for "strange"?



Hello, Ros!
That is great news about your grandson.
And hopefully, you can now draw breath and relax, now that you have seen for yourself that he is ok.

I wouldn't find it funny either, elle, but rusty did keep telling you to look properly! In the past I have looked and looked for my mobile in the car -there are some very odd places for it to slide to. Anyway, all that's lost now is time and the old credit card.

I hardly know what to do with myself at the moment. Watch iplayer I suppose. Just can't settle to anything. How is your cat?