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Hi, Rusty!
Well, we are back home again....dry but decidedly windswept! It was difficult to keep my feet at times!
At least the strong winds held the rain at bay - "thankful for small mercies"!
So Great Britain has won the Davis cup! This is for the first time since 1936!!
And although he is not my favourite person (!) Andy Marry can claim a lot of the credit here.
He beat Belgium's David Goffin in a resounding three straight sets!
Give credit where credit's due! Well done, Andy!
I've solved two of the outstanding parses in the Everyman...only two to go now ......
How is your snow progressing? Is it still falling heavily?

Hello, Chris!
At last, I have finished reading "Nation"!
You are right in saying that this is very different from the other books by Terry Pratchett ( into which I have briefly delved).
Whilst not really the type of book I like to read (I'm not keen on fantasy) I did enjoy "Nation."

And as Terry Pratchett says in his "Author's Note" at the end of the novel.....

" Thinking.
This book contains some. Whether you try it at home is up to you."

Hello, Elle,
Welcome home!
I had no big winds, just heavy snow which has stopped now.
Some has gone but some stiil covering the cars etc.
It looks cold out!
Well done GB and big Andy! I know you can't be doing with Andra, but he is a good player, and the rest of the team were very good too!
I do not get a paper on Sundays.
One or two posters today, appear to think we are mind readers, with the unhelpful posts they put!
It is amazing they ever get answers!
The weather is wild in Norn Iron, too.
My friend was at her mother's grave and all the flowers had blown away, so she took her roses home, until Clodagh passes!

Hi elle
I'm pleased that you found Nation enjoyable, even if it isn't your cup of tea - much relieved!

Hi, Rusty!
That's a thought - I hadn't considered any potential damage at the crematorium.
We have an engraved marble slab in the ground to commemorate my parents.
We can stand flowers or plants on this.
Knowing the problems with winds, we always put our plants into heavy ceramic pots, so hopefully they won't have been blown away!
But I might pop down there tomorrow , weather permitting, and just check!
Is Clodagh likely to visit us here? or is this she already, being the cause of today's heavy winds?
The one good thing about today is the temperature has risen to twice what it was yesterday!
I finished "Nation" (by Terry Pratchett) yesterday evening, and am now reading a crime novel by Peter James, based in Brighton (in Sussex ; about an hour by train from London)!
The novel is entertaining and reasonably "light" for a change!
What are you reading now, whilst waiting for your book on Sacco and Vanzetti to arrive?

Hello, Elle!
Very cold here. Black ice, and still some snow here.
We have not had winds yet, so I am hoping Clodagh has lost force before she gets here.
Thousands in Ireland without power.
I think your plants will be OK.
Are you near Portsmouth? They have cancelled lights switch on this evening due to Clodagh.
I am NOT reading Guns of August. I gave up on it.
It was supposed to be in the top hundred books of the twentieth century, but it is error strewn.
She persists in calling Kaiser Wilhe!m, William. I have never came across that before.
And for many pages has gone on about England getting dragged into a war. It was Britain. So the book is in the bin!
I am on Isaac's Storm now. It is a good read.

Hi, Rusty!
Yes, you mentioned buying "Isaac's Storm". I am glad you are enjoying reading it!
Is it proving very informative? It sounds as though it would be very scientific?
Do you literally "bin" the books that you don't like? or is that a euphemism for taking to the Charity shop?
I've still got "The thin Yellow Line " here....not at all sure what to do with it... I'm not sure I should even donate it to Charity, as I found it so distressing? maybe the "bin" is the only place, in this instance?
I was down to the very last ONE solution (in the Everyman ) to parse.......when the explanation was put up on the Forum - I saw it when I was giving the answer to another clue! I didn't manage to look away in time!
The really maddening thing is that had I consulted Anne Bradford, I would have got it ages ago - she gave 'class' as meaning 'rate'..... which is just what I needed!
Ah well......!
(I live about 80 miles away from Portsmouth)!

Hello, Elle,
I thought you would be further away from Portsmouth.
Some books I give to a charity shop, some in the bin.
The Guns of August is in the bin,
The author is no Lyn McDonald!
Isaac's Storm is a good read. No great problem understanding it.
Anne Bradford is my go-to lady when I am struggling for a word!
I would suggest you sling the Thin Yellow Line. No use keeping a book that distresses you.
That was a pity about Portsmouth having to postpone the "switch-on".

Hi, Rusty!
I have just been talking to my cousin for our hourly Sunday evening chat!
She lives in the North-West and has been having very heavy rain and gale force winds - far worse than here. No snow as yet but it is forecast over the Lancashire hills.
Your black ice sounds dangerous... be careful when/if? you go out tomorrow.
Do you have plans to go out? Or will it depend on the weather conditions?
We are due yet more heavy rain! What a nice prospect!
This coming week will not be quite so busy as of late....thank goodness......but on Wednesday it will be our Wedding Anniversary (I think I told you?) so we are planning on going out for dinner.
And on Thursday, younger daughter and I go to our last school Open Day!!
So far , there are two schools that we think are exceptionally good, with another two "reasonable" ones as back -up.
The big problem is that the places are allocated by shortest geographical distance from the schools. The only school that is actually "near" to my daughter is the one that we both HATE!!!!
Ah w ell, she can but fill out her forms with her six listed choices and see what happens........

Hello, Elle!
Could you not leave the "worst" school off the list you enter?
Tell them that one is out?
Yes, your friend in the North West will get the weather first.
I am on the East Coast and no winds to speak off, although we had a lot of snow falling. And now the black ice!
I hate the stuff. There may be a few broken wrists about.
I have no need to drive anywhere tomorrow, so it will be a walk to ASDA for my paper. "Slip, Sliding Away".
Was that a song?
Ah, well, we shall see what the weather gods bring overnight!