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Hi, Rusty!
Yes, Sydenham is right next door to Forest Hill!
And also next to Crystal Palace , where the Park and the Athletics Stadium is situated.
You will have seen the Stadium on television, and no doubt watched many famous athletes compete there.
My previous dog and I met Kelly Holmes there , being interviewed in the pouring rain on the bridge.
Dame Kelly had to smile and pretend she wasn' t wet through!
A very nice lady...she stopped her interview to pat my dog and talk to me!
Yes, I knew about the Duke of Edinburgh being related to the Romanovs, although I couldn't have named the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
Wasn't there something at one point about Prince Philip's DNA being used to indentify (possible) past Romanovs?
It is now pouring with rain here too...and we shall have to head out later this afternoon to visit the cat!




Hello, Pigale!
Yes, your weather sounds infinitely better than mine!
It is very wet here...
I shall come and stay with you!
No, I didn't know specifically about the Grand Duchess , altho' I was aware of Prince Philip's being related to the Romanovs.



Chris, you will know all about Sydenham - it is only a stone's throw from Dog Kennel Hill, where you used to live!

Hi elle
Pretty long throw! We could see the masts of Crystal Palace from our windows, though.
Crystal Palace, of course, was just a part of Sydenham until the Great Exhibition glasshouse was moved there from Hyde Park in 1854 (actually I found on checking the date that the area was Penge Common, not Sydenham at all!)

Hello, Chris!
I think Penge Common was a part of North West Kent and North East Surrey until later the boundaries all changed.
It now comprises all of Anerley , most of Penge and I think part of South Norwood?
The "Crystal Palace" was relocated to Penge Place,
This later became Crystal Palace Park.

You are welcome to come and stay anytime Elle, but give me
plenty warning so that the place (garden and all) is tidy!

Hello, Elle!
Dame Kelly seems a very nice person, I've always thought!
My recollection is that Prince Philip agreed that Russia could use his DNA to possibly identify the bodies of two children whose bodies were found in a field.
They were thought to be the bodies of Grand Duchess Maria and Tsarevich Alexei of the Romanov royal family.
I have not heard any more about that.
i wonder who decided that statues of Grand Duchess Elizabeth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (there are others, too) should be placed at Westminster Abbey?
On whose authority was it done?

Hello, Pigale!
Thank you for your complimentary remarks!
I just like finding out about things.
Very boring to most folk, I'm sure!
These are awful wildfires in France.
I hope you are not near them?

Some more useless information, for what it's worth. There used to be a proper (but not Formula1) motor racing circuit at Crystal Palace.

And Motor racing at Crystal Palace Park has, in fact, recently been revived and has operated there in the last few years (although not this year, for some reason)
You can Google this for more info.

I hope Pigale is safe, but I believe she is a long way from the affected area.
I have been constantly in touch with my cousin who lives in the Var (Cavalaire)just half an hour away from St Tropez. She is very scared seeing all the fires raging not far from her village. She was prepared to evacuate together with her cat, , when the wind suddenly changed direction and this morning she said
"I can see smoke behind the hill at the top of my road. It's not thick, so probably drifted from Bormes. So much devastation is heartbreaking" .

Hi, Rusty!
Yes, that is ringing bells now about bodies in a field!
No, I don't know whether that DNA comparison ever went ahead?
I too heard no more about it?
Surely, if anything had ever come of it, it would have made Headline News?
Now....have you done your crossword, yet?
I found today's very straightforward and logical?
I have even done all the parsing!
How about that, then ?!
I think, though, that there must be a typing error in 15D;.
Should the clue not read "prisoner" rather than "prison"?
The answer being "confined" = kept in cell (def)
con - prisoner
fined - punished
We are shortly going out to see to the cat....... more cuddles !



I hope your cousin stays safe, Jazzgirl.

Hello Jazzy,

Yes, thank you, I am safe - I am over 700 kms north of the area.

It is horrific indeed - we are unfornutaly used to fires in the south
every year, but this time it is endangering lives and habitations;
I really feel for the people in the area, be it permanent residents
or tourists.
On top of it, as luck would have it, a strong wind - the Mistral - has
been blowing over the past few days. It all seems out of control.

I hope your friend will not be in any danger