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Hello, Elle!
"Pants" for awful is in use up here in the boonducks!
Language is alive, Elle, it evolves!
I did not go far on my walk.
I had my gloves on, though!
Yes, "Treasures" is an hour of magic, I think.
4, Alison has an ancestor called Stephen Hales.
He was a parish priest.
He was very interested in inventing things.
Like bringing ventilation into coal mines etc.
He was against gin!
They had all his books and Alison was pleased to discover that her ancestor looked very much like her granddad.
5.Thomas Hardy.
They have the hand written manuscript of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" donated by Hardy himself.
It is full of corrections as he wrote it, changing words and phrases etc.
And, I discovered, his heroine was to be called "Rosemary", but he scored it out and inserted "Tess", on the first page.
Rosemary of the D'Urbervilles does not have a ring to it?
6, Ancient cooking.
Alison loves cooking. Old English cooking.
There are thousands of ancient cookbooks in the library and they found one written on vellum (calf skin) from Richard 2's reign.
Then they took her to a London restaurant which does this type of cooking. They created the most realistic looking tangerine from pate.
And other wonderful stuff.
Alison donated the scores and recording she did of "Thoughts of Dr May".
I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Hey, Rusty!
Yes, "Treasures" is a great programme - I'm enjoying it, too, second hand, thanks to your explanations!
I should have been interested to see the hand -written manuscript of "Tess of the D'Urbevilles".
I always enjoy reading Thomas Hardy and "Tess" is one of my favourites.
I picked up a copy of "The Mayor of Casterbridge" at a boot fair a little while ago ..........in fact , I had forgotten all about it till now!....I must hunt for it!
This is one book of his that I haven't yet read.
Did you know it is sub-titled "The Life and Death of a Man of Character"?
What an intriguing subtitle, don't you think?
"Return to Paradise "arrived this afternoon.
I think I have been spoilt so far by the excellent condition of the books I have received to date.
This latest is rather shabby - clean, but a bit tattered and faded.
No matter...it will do the job!
I missed "Eggheads" ...it is recorded ...I shall watch it now.

Hi elle
I don't know if you listen to Round Britain Quiz (I would recommend it if you don't!0. See if you can do question 4 from this week's programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b082xc05

Hi, Chris!
I got the first part - Angel Clare was the husband to whom Tess was finally reconciled.
But I couldn't answer the rest of the question.
For some reason the answer "Angel" put me in mind of "Angel Pavement" by J.B. Priestley.
I think I have that somewhere.....I must dig it out to read again. Sorry to digress!

I've read "Angel Pavement", and hated it (such an unpleasant person) - though I do like Priestley - have you read "The Image Men"? - still frighteningly relevant!

The port is Archangel.....

Hello, Chris.
No, I don't think I have read "The Image Men".
It is a long time since I read any Priestley - I had a spate of reading quite a number of his books at one time, but have forgotten most of the stories by now.
I also saw a few good plays at our local theatre.
"An Inspector Calls" comes to mind..
Have you seen that?

We've seen "An Inspector calls " live as well. His "time plays" I've seen on TV and liked too.

"The image men" is brilliant - I can;t recommend it too much. It;s actually a pair of books.

Hi, Rusty!
Have you gone to sleep?
I am now up to my very last chapter of "Hawaii" - one hundred and thirty -seven pages to go - and Nyuk Tsin is now ninety -nine years old.
An indomitable woman!
I am wondering how all this will end - how it will "be rounded off" as seems to happen at the end of Mr Michener's sagas?
I doubt I shall finish it tonight though.
Tomorrow, we are resurrecting "Ladies Who Lunch"!
It is indeed quite a while since we last met!
It will be good to play catch up in person.
I hope we have a better day weather- wise!
Do you have any plans for tomorrow?

Hello, Elle,
Not asleep yet.
Bit early for me.
You are doing well with Hawaii!
Minus 1 outside.
That is good the Ladies are Lunching tomorrow!
Is your tram service running yet?
I have no plans tomorrow, beyond buying my paper.

Hi, Rusty!
It is mildish here.
According to the weather chart, it is supposed to be about 9C tomorrow, but despite this we apparently can expect very brisk to strong winds (again?).
I think the plan is to go to Bromley for lunch tomorrow, so luckily the tramline will not be needed.
But yes, I think the tram service to Croydon is fully functioning again........there was talk of its so doing on November16th - but I am not sure if this actually happened?
I must find out for sure before next Wednesday, as I am meeting a friend in South Croydon on that day, which would entail my using the section of line where the crash occurred.
How is Miss ATW's flat coming along?
Has she moved in...or is she waiting for the decorating to be finished?