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Good morning, Elle!
Fine dry day here, but chilly.
Yes, I should see Miss L-B more often now she is off.
So the ladies who lunch is back on!
Just finished my puzzle.
It's a good one.
Two left to parse, but I'll leave it for now.

Hello, Jigjag,
Yes, I think both the Bolton Evening News and the BBC article were fairly explicit.

And would these be the links for which you were looking?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_status_in_the_United_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_charter

Now please, can we leave this alone? I think we have both made our opinion clear, and in the interest of general goodwill, I think we should now let it be,

A Very Good morning to you, Rusty!
It is a white world, here!
There is a very heavy frost...... great for dog walking..... hard ground equates clean dog!
You are very early finishing your crossword?
I have not yet printed out mine.
Yes, you will enjoy having Miss L-B around more during the Christmas vacation.
What time is she picking you up?
"Ladies who Lunch" will be but a poor showing...so many people have moved away to live nearer to family.
But we shall have a good lunch and a good chat!
I am gong out in about half an hour.......

Thanks Elle, the links make it clear

Hi, Rusty!
I am home again - and here to stay for the rest of the day!
We had a nice drive out to the cafe where we had lunch ...and an enjoyable time catching up with all the news.
I arrived home just in time to receive a call from my daughter- in -law -who- isn't.
She and the children are coming over to see us on Monday after school.
That will be nice...I shall look forward to that.
Did you and Miss La Bamba get a table at the Pine Cone without too long a wait?
Maybe it would be less busy being mid week?

Good evening, Elle!
Well done on your lunch!
You will be looking forward to seeing your daughter-in-law and the young ones!
Yep, we had bacon rolls at Pine Cone.
It was very busy but we managed to get a table easily enough.
One of the waitresses is at the same Uni as La Bamba so they had a good natter about Uni things etc!
A good puzzle today.
8d, and 10a are new to me, and 14d is spelt differently to what I've seen before.

Good evening, Rusty!
My day got better and better......
Just after I had posted to you earlier, the doorbell rang and there was an old friend come to deliver her Christmas card in person!
That was a nice surprise!
Then later, after she had gone home, I went to the computer..... and what did I find?
An email and some photographs from another old friend and previous work colleague, with whom I had been out of touch for a while!
This seems to be a day for catch ups!
I found today's crossword quite difficult, Rusty?
Perhaps because I started it late in the day...my mind is sharper in the mornings!
I didn't know "spondulix"....I only got it because I put the letters into the Anagram Solver
I have eaten "basmati" though.
It is an Indian long grain rice.
I shall send this now, though most probably you are still chatting to your son!

Good evening, Elle!
A bit chilly up here!
I had not heard of basmati before.
Rice is not something I like, though.
Fine in a pudding, for me.
Did you manage 8d?
I have an answer but I am beaten on the parse.
Setter too clever for me, I think.
My son is not long away.
He was adjusting my heating system when he was here.
Much better now.

Hi, Rusty!
It is extremely cold here, too.
Aldi seems to know something we don't , as the forecourt is all salted!
I think your son has fixed your heating just in time by the "chilly feel " of things.
For 8d: I have "Heidegger" = philosopher (def)
he - fellow
ID - Freudian concept
eg - as
Ger - German
This is one of the very few that I managed to do...I am afraid that I have given up with a lot of the clues.
Today's puzzle is beyond me!

Hello, Elle!
My heating was working fine, just noisy clicks coming from the valves, but fixed now.
Well done, Aldi!
Now, Elle, I have learned two things from your parse.
I have not came across ID before, whatever it is!
And I did not know "eg" for "as", (Anne Bradford has it, too).
So, thankee kindly, ma'am!
You were out and about though, Elle, so maybe not in the mood to be concentrating on puzzles.