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Good evening, Elle!
Well done on the wreath!
I think there seem to be less florists about these days.
All the supermarkets sell flowers now.
Miss L-B and me had a good time.
My son has just left.
Had a great time chatting to him!

Hi, Rusty!
I finished today's crossword - no major problems for a change!
It was quite a nice puzzle for me.
I have just realised, though, that I have never finished the Times Monthly.
I am but halfway through it......
I was "taking it easy" and spreading it over December...
And I completely forgot about it!
So I shall make a coffee ( for brain power) and see how much further I can get.....
We have a leak in the bathroom!

Funny you should say that (about me feeding me), pigale. Today I went to ASDA (where they had 500gms sprouts for 20p!) and bought lots of things for Christmas food, but completey forgot it is still 3 whole days until Christmas Eve and I hadn't bought any food for myself! So I went back inside. I have still forgotten something, of course.

I'm glad your friend made it safely- just as well he wasn't flying from Gatwick. Will he do some cooking for you? Imagine sitting on a plane on a runway with a baby for 8 hours!

Sorry about the leak, elle. Difficult to get a plumber now, Iimagine. I once had a blocked sink on Christmas Eve, but there was still time to get one of those bottles of blaster and luckily it worked.

Hello, Elle!
Does your friendly builder do plumbing work?
A leak is not very nice!
Yes, a straightforward puzzle today, I thought.
I hope tomorrow's is a bit tougher!

Indeed Ros, dreadful and utterly ridiculous situation for a major
airport! I hope the army can do something about it. It is a tad
worrying that one person (if this is the case) can bring travelling
at this time of the year to a stand still!
This is assuming it is an idiot playing up - should it be more serious,
then it becomes quite scary!

As far as cooking is concerned, our favourite menu usually is
lovely thick soups followed by bread and a selection of cheeses!
but yes, we might have something different every now and then
while he is over;

Sorry about leaky bathroom Elle! hope you get it sorted out
before all plumbers stop work for the 'festive' season.

PS Ros, I hope all the Christmas food you bought will keep!

Hi, Rusty!
No, regrettably our builder friends do not deal with plumbing work.
But we do have a plumber coming tomorrow hopefully to fix the leak........ he is unknown to us , so this will be somewhat of an "experiment"!
I do prefer to deal with recommended tradesmen, but unfortunately no one knows a good plumber.
If we like him and he does a good job, he will go on the "neighbours" recommended list.
It is a good job that this happened before family arrived to stay.
Imagine the chaos otherwise!

I am feeding the family curries, pigale, and on Christmas Eve. The meat arrived frozen from an excellent Scottish butcher today and the rest is store cupboard. Not my choice, I have to say, I shall make some without chillies for my grandson and myself, but mostly eat dahl and gobi aloo (potato and cauliflower).

Soup, bread and cheese sounds wonderful.

Good morning, Elle!
Looks dry outside!
Let's hope your plumber is a good tradesman.
How did you find him?
My youngest son is a plumber, though it is mainly installations he does, like central heating etc.
I am heading out soon.
Heading to ASDA and my favourite butcher's.
And Screwfix for lightbulbs!
So, in the words of the great Hank Williams,
"Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh, my oh!"
Only I'll leave the pirogue at home and take the car!

Good morning, Rusty!
We are just back from the Crematorium, having taken the wreath.
It is very wet here....we could probably have used the pirogue!
(Did you buy a crawfish pie at Asda?)
We got the name of the plumber from the Metro.
I have checked the firm out online and it looks credible....we shall just hope for the best.
The guy is coming at midday.
I have at last heard from The Times.... not from Rose, but from Mr R himself.
He very handsomely offers an apology for the error in the clue.......

" Dear Ms ------
Thank you for comment on puzzle No 27218
Indeed you are correct that Bolton is but a town still.
Sometimes we err on the side of grandeur, in particular in relation to place names in the US, where everywhere appears to be a city.
However, I offer no excuse for slipping up here!
Regards
Richard Rogan
Crossword Editor"

That was very nice of him to reply in person, wasn't it?
I wonder if Rose will comment , too?