Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Good morning, Rusty!
Dull and dreary here!
We had a good energetic walk though, despite the dismalness of the morning.
I am pleased to hear the your new haircut passed muster with the Asda staff!
Now you just have to face your granddaughters.......
I have nothing in particular planned for today.......
My husband is waiting for a telephone consultation with his GP.
Let us hope that it actually happens this time!
I have a sneaking suspicion that the GP never knew of the previous arrangement..... set up supposedly, by one of the receptionists.
The doctor herself is a very nice, competent young woman who, I am sure, would never keep a patient hanging about like that.
To be on the safe side, though, I have just rung the surgery to remind them!
Time for a coffee and a look at the puzzle....



Hi, Ros,
Is there room on that soap box for another pair of feet?
I am in full agreement with you!

Thank you for this Ros! Very interesting article!

I have duly repeated this little sentence 'I need cholesterol to live'
several times over, and I think it is now well anchored in my brain!

Mind you, I do not need much persuasion to eat my cheese! At least
now, I shall do so without feeling guilty!

It is true that Big Pharma will tells us all sorts of inaccuracies in order to inflate their already fat bank account! and quite often the fake
informations and recommendations they force feed us are contradictory with one another, so that if you listen to them, you would not do or eat anything.

I know all this, yet the cholesterol warnings seem to be big favourites
with ALL GPs - I also know that same GPs prescribe certain meds
in preference to others because laboratories offer them ....'perks' - though I do not know how this works.

As to the 22mns walk (I love the 2 mns!), this will have to wait a while until my back has fully recovered!
Usually, I walk down (and back up) into town several times a week, but I must admit it is not 22 mins every day! You do though, don't you?
Don't you find it boring walking on your own?

Good morning Chris,

Tartiflette is delicious, and a big favourite of mine! I agree that it
is very rich though, so you need not eat a lot of it to feel satiated!

You were lucky to have been introduced to Tartiflette in the Vercors!
There are many types of Reblochon being sold all over France (and probably England as well), and they are not that good! When I spent some times in the Alps a few years back, I bought 'the real
thing' a whole one which I shared with some local friends- Well, what a difference from what supermarkets offer us!

There is a very good cheesemonger in our local market and
he sells the real stuff - expensive but well worth it!

Ah - defective reblochon. That's why mine wasn't as good!

Lots of room, elle, and welcome.

Pigale, in the UK it is not only the drug companies whose bank accounts are inflated when statins are prescribed. Regrettably, and to my mind disgracefully, the GP's are too.

I was slightly scared this morning as I went out when it was still dark. I looked round to see a large person walking behind me. However, he or she walked past and didn't even reply to my "Good Morning". Venus looked stunning, also the moon. I also get a little scared in my wood as it is a long way from anywhere, but I think I should "feel the fear and do it anyway". My son likes me to tell him when I go there, and when I've got back. Reminds me of 25 years ago..............

I think the 22 minutes comes from dividing the recommended 150 a week by 7. It does look odd, I agree. You'll be able to walk to the village again one day.

Hi, Rusty!
Goodness , it's been busy on the PCT this morning!
I'm not sure whether you ever found my previous post?
You would have had to scroll down quite some way!
No phone call from the surgery as yet...although I was assured that it would be forthcoming.
The suspense is not helping the situation.....
I am about halfway through the crossword.... I am not settling to it this morning.
I liked 3d: proviso
Surely we only had "elegiac" the other day?
And "wagoner" had me back on the "Rawhide" theme again!
I would have spelled it with two "n"s, but haven't checked in Chambers.
Have you finished your puzzle?

Good afternoon, Elle!
Yes, a busy thread today!
I don't think there was any spam this morning.
Not when I first looked in, anyway.
Hopefully your husband's 'phone call will be forthcoming soon.
I have often seen "wagoner".
I think it can be "waggoner", too.
I have not seen it spelled with two "n's"?
My puzzle is finished.
20d is new to me.

This doctor's phone call is getting beyond a joke! Hope it happens soon, elle.

Today 8 peeled sprouts in Tesco were £1(200 gm, usually £1.50!!)
16 unpeeled, 264 gm 50p
Going to try Aldi

Good afternoon, Rusty!
Ah, yes, maybe "waggoner" is the spelling of which I was thinking.
Two "g"s and not two "n"s!
But certainly "wagoner" looked unfamiliar to me.....
I did not know "beldam" meaning an old woman, or a hag, either.
Although I have heard of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" - the poem by John Keats - meaning, of course, "the beautiful lady......."
Do you think there was ever a connection between the two expressions?
A very different meaning now, if so?
Yes, my husband's phone call finally came through.
And basically all is well with his blood tests, and the chest and knee Xrays.
So that is a huge relief...it has been a very worrying time awaiting the expected phone call, as you can imagine.
So now all that remains is to sort out the potential osteoarthritis in the knee - a physio appointment is booked for next Tuesday.
I like this doctor, she is very pleasant and efficient.
So ...on this more happy note...I am going to take the dog for a walk...!
Back in a bit!

Glad everything is OK, elle

La Belle Dame wasn't all that nice, was she? And the line "She took me to her Elfin grot" has to be one of the worst in any poem, anywhere, no matter who wrote it!