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Hello, Elle,
There are reports on BBC Scotland that the grandparents of Andy Murray have been receiving "hate mail" regarding Andy.
Letters criticising his appearance, accent, etc.
Pretty low!
What kind of numpty would do such a thing?
Judy has advised them to throw them in the bin!

Good morning (just), Rusty!
The locksmith - a very nice man - turned up dead on time!
It wasn't as big a job as we had feared. The barrel of the door lock had worn out and needed to be replaced.
The marks around the lock were observed and remarked upon, but he said that if it were a professional attempt to break in, there would have been a lot more damage.
Juts a botched amateur go at a failing lock!
We are now back in business and I now have to hand over new keys to various family members and a couple of trusty neighbours!
The locksmith did the job in about forty minutes, then stayed for another hour, sitting on the sofa, drinking coffee, and talking to us about the Euro referendum!
I see what you are saying about the average man on the street watching sport....but he would still see a fellow countryman win a medal - all that would be missing would be the competitive league tables of the countries' total medals?
Pie in the sky though anyway....it will never happen!
(altho maybe I should have a word with Seb?)
A dull drizzly day here...how about with you?
I have yet to look at my crosswords!
The BG engineer will be here next!

Hi Everyone !

Hello Elle,

When is your referendum taking place (mind you I could google it !)
I suppose there should be a high percentage of participation.

Hot day here, temp already in the low thirties with a nice warm breeze - I'll enjoy it while it lasts !

Hello, Doglet!
Good to see you!
The problem wasn't the meaning of costermonger, but whether "pearly" was a noun.
My thought was that it came from "Pearly King/ Queen" and had become accepted as a noun. but my Chambers only gave it as an adjective. meaning " like a pearl".
Whilst some people's dictionaries - different editions - gave a different answer.
Quite ludicrous, really, how different editions vary!


Hi, Pigale!
Our referendum is tomorrow, June 23rd.
There was a huge two- hour debate yesterday on BBC1.
What hot weather you are having!
It's about 20C here - so they say- I'm not convinced!
Drizzling though.

Hi again, Rusty!
Whew, it has become extremely warm and muggy.
We have just returned from the park, having gone out later than usual due to the late arrival of the BG engineer. She was over an hour behind schedule.
The boiler got a clean bill of health!
Still, it gave me the opportunity to watch the tennis match between Caroline Wozniacki and Monica Puig. The latter won.
Have you been watching any of the tennis?

Hello, Elle!
Well done with the lock.
You seem to have a good locksmith there!
And your boiler got pass marks too!
More trouble in British Cycling!
Dani King has been told she is not going to Rio to back Lizzie.
She is ranked higher than the two who have been selected.
In fact, only Lizzie is ranked higher than her.
Dani is far from happy!
Team will be announced on Friday.
I have a soft spot for Caroline Wozniacki after the callous way Rory McIlroy dumped her.
I have not taken in any tennis today.
Had a long dander then came home and ordered 4 books from Amazon.
We have a nice day here.

Good evening, Rusty!
After a dull and drizzly day, we now have a nice evening!
A bit of a waste as I've definitely done all the walking I plan to do today!
I walked to and from the park this morning, as well as about three miles around the park itself.
Then we went out again this afternoon - only this time we were able to drive to our destination!
I remember the name Dani King - didn't she have a horrific accident? and wasn't there some problem a while back about her being left out of some plans for Rio?
I'm sure you mentioned something about her?
This latest decision sounds most unfair? Why is she being left behind?
So........ what four books have you chosen?

Hello, Elle!
Yes, Dani had a very bad crash, broken ribs, punctured lung etc.
Sutton punted her from the track team, (Dani is an Olympic gold medalist, and triple World Champion)
So, she moved to the road. Around November time she was told she had to achieve nine points of criteria to get to Rio.
She did that.
One of the girls replacing Dani, was retired and took up triathlon.
She has had two races this year. Just two!
The other girl selected is a team mate of Lizzie's at Boels Dolmans.
Dani has been treated badly for the second time by British Cycling.
I think that organisation stinks, what with Jess Varnish and now Dani.
I have selected four books about the Great War,
Three by Richard van Emden, and one by Peter Barton, "The Lost Legions of Fromelles."
I am looking forward to them, especially as the Somme anniversary is just over a week away.

Back again, Elle!
There is one of those clues I detest in The Times today.
5d, Thus Asian islander upset some Indians (7)

Rusty, I almost got in touch here with that clue when I saw it this morning! I decided 8 am was a bit too early in the day to be drawing attention to poor clues.

There are two good tv programmes for you next week. On Thursday evening, 30th June, the BBC have live coverage of the vigils being held to mark the Battle of the Somme. At 7am the next day there's coverage of the commemoration at the Thiepval Barracks. Both will be very moving, I expect.