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Hello, Elle!
Yes, those names were slightly familiar.
It looked very breezy at Portsmouth!

Hi, Rusty!
Ooops!
I have only just noticed your post enclosing the link about "nesh".
Goodness me, what a lot of meanings!
And how very interesting!
I had no idea that the word had so many inferences.....
And I had only come across it previously used as an adjective.
I live and learn!

Hello, Elle!
"Nesh" is some word!
Some of the quotations are from many centuries ago, too.
What an awesome amount of research the OED does!
The OED Tweets me a word each day.
I find it fascinating.
A lovely afternoon here.
How's you and the bug getting on?

Hi, Rusty!
Thank you for enquiring about the bug and me!
Now, if I am honest and say I feel rotten.......you may think I am being "nesh"...... ie being a wimp!
So I shall simply admit that bug and I are not on the most cordial of terms!
Consequently, I have had a very lazy day!
Neither of us has felt like going out, so for once the dog has had to make do with just the garden - no walks!
No Sunday paper either!

Hello, Elle!
Bugs are not pleasant, therefore I sympathise!
You are doing the right thing by staying home.
I am sure you will survive without a Sunday paper!
Your Sunday 'phone call to your cousin will cheer you up, I am sure.
Or, 'phone your daughters?
I am sure they will have plenty news to tell you and take your mind off the bug!

Hi, Rusty!
I have just been talking to my cousin.
All are well up there, but they have been having very heavy winds and a lot of rain.
Fortunately, they have experienced no personal damage to self or property.
She was amazed to hear about the strange phenomenon with the red sun, and then yellow sky and ensuing "blackout" that we had!
She had, of course, heard about it on the News, but didn't realise that we had experienced it first hand.
Yes, I have spoken to both daughters earlier in the day!
We are always in regular touch!
It is most disappointing that we have had to postpone visits, but these things cannot be helped.

Hello, Elle!
That's good news regarding your cousin and the bad weather.
I read North England caught a bit of it.
No, you were very sensible postponing visits but with modern technology you are still close to them and can speak and see them.
Good news from Berlin!
Elinor Barker and Ellie Dickinson have won gold in the Madison event!
Lydia Ko was second in the Swinging Skirts golf tournament.
A South Korean woman won, Eun-Hee Ji, but she is new to me.
A good event though, and she won well.
I have finished "Die Hard, Aby".
It was very good.
"Die Hard" is the motto of the Middlesex Regiment.

Good morning, Rusty!
A dull slightly foggy morning here... and I think we are forecast rain.
I am staying at home today!
What are you up to?
The two British women did well to win the Madison cycling event.
So called, I think, after Madison Square Gardens in New York?
Well done, them!
Now tell me about "Die Hard, Aby".
Presumably about someone in the Middlesex Regiment being killed?
Was this in action?
I hope this is not a story where the soldiers are executed by their own side, for somehow "failing in their duty"?
Do you remember that terrible war book about that kind of happening?
I couldn't finish reading the book as I found it so distressing........
Now whatever was it called?
I think the word "Line" came into it?

Good morning, Elle!
A bit wet here today!
Elinor Barker calls the Madison the "holding hands" race!
I suspect your book was the "Thin Yellow Line"?
Yes, Aby was an underage soldier from the East End of London.
He joined the Middlesex Regiment.
He was shot at dawn for not returning to the line after he was discharged from a treatment centre after being wounded.
He was 18, I think, although the Army thought he was older.
It is a very good account of what went on, way back then.
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
Not a book for you, though.
How are you and the bug getting on?

Hi, Rusty!
Yes, I think you are correct; it was "The Thin Yellow Line".
A very harrowing book.
But what happened to Aby? Did he deliberately not return to his regiment after his discharge from hospital.......or was he not aware that he should do so?
There must be mitigating circumstances surely, or else a book would not have been written about him?
This "making an example" of a trooper, as a deterrent to his fellow men was very wrong.........
The Bug and I are getting quite cosy, thank you..........maybe I should call it "Herbie"?
No, seriously, I shall be fine.....it just needs time!
I am crosswording......!
A friend very kindly sent me yesterday's ST crossword - so I have finished that (three parses outstanding ) and am half way through today's Cryptic.
Have you looked at your puzzle yet?