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Hello, Elle!
I am sure your repairs will go fairly smoothly.
Just stay out of the lads' way and let them get on with it, but have the teapot handy, is my advice!
I have great difficulty keeping up with La Bamba.
Her schedule is different each week.
She has a longer placement to do but I have forgotten when.
She was telling me about her holiday plans today!

Hi, Rusty!
My tea making skills are not up to much, Rusty - I never drink the stuff!
But the guys are good and never complain.
I offer up cake and biscuits too.
And I do make a good cup of coffee, though!
What do Miss La Bamba's placements involve?
Doe she have to go to different establishments....or the same place?
So where is she off to for her holiday?

Hello, Elle!
Can't beat a nice cup of coffee!
Your lads will be very appreciative of cake and biscuits, I'm sure!
I have an idea La Bamba told me her next placement is for three weeks, I think at the same place, but I would not put a shilling on it.
She and Miss O have booked their holiday.
They are going to Florida for two weeks, then up to California for several days, then finishing off at Las Vegas.
Goodness knows who is in charge of me when they are away !

Hi, Rusty!
I love the concept of your granddaughters (one or the other, or both!) always being "in charge" of you!
Just think what you can get up to...... with both of them away at the same time!
When are they going?
Now.......
I know you thought the crossword easy today, but I am stuck on just two interlinked clues.
18d: Sent down sewer's product Irishman picked up on corner (7)
M?I???G
25A: Vessel comes to shore in smashing location (6,4)
??T?L? / B?N?
I have given up on finding a solution by myself!
Help, please?

25 bottle bank?
Very poor clue if it's right

Hello, Elle!
It makes life for me a bit easier if the young ones are in charge of me.
They are going in summer time, when the school is closed.
Now, 18 is, "Mailbag" a "sent down sewer's product".
Liam is your Irishman, and to "corner" something could be to "bag" it.
25 is "bottle bank". Vessel is a "bottle" and "shore" could be a "bank".
I do not really see why it is a smashing location, though.

Hi, Rusty!
I was only teasing..........I am not really expecting you to run riot whilst your granddaughters are away!
They are very good the way they 'look after' you!
Thank you......yes, I can (retrospectively ) see "mail bag" - I was thinking of the wrong type of "sewer".......my mind was functioning around "waste matter"!
But "bottle bank" is odd?
I see "bottle- vessel" and "bank - shore", but, as you say, where does "a smashing location" come into the equation?

Thank you, Chris!
But I do not understand why it is "a smashing location"?

Rusty, a bottle bank is a smashing location as the bottles make a very satisfying clatter, smash as you feed them into the container.

My earlier comment about 'surface reading' was a bit tongue-in-cheek. It's one of the phrases that many solvers and setters use. It just means that a good clue actually reads very well even if there's some trickery, clever wordplay involved. It's sometimes more obvious when it isn't there - a clunky clue means that the solver is more likely to spot anything significant.

Hello, Elle!
I am very lucky with my family.
The young ones are great with me!
Now, I must confess I have never used a bottle bank, but imagined it to be a place where you safely deposited bottles.
Smashing bottles would create broken glass which I'd steer well clear of.

Malone, why didn't you address your latest post to both Rusty AND
Elle, since both had been discussing the clue together ?