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Good Morning, Rusty!
A dull but fine and mild day here …….. a pleasant walk.
The remaining goslings in the park are growing big.
The heron was watching them this morning, but hopefully they might now put a fight for survival, if need be.
Any word of Lassie?
I have never visited a bottle bank, but was surprised to hear from Ros that the bottles do indeed smash.
We have small recycling bins provided by the local council for each household.
One for waste food produce, one for paper, and a third for glass and plastics combined.
They do the job nicely!
I didn't know that there is Latin crossword in the Saturday paper?
I wonder dare I suggest to John that he sends me yet another crossword?
( I already receive four from him on a Saturday!)
Anything special on your agenda today?




Hello, Ros!
How are you?
Thank you for the info about bottle banks......
I have to say I have never been to a recycling point, as our local Council provides us with the necessary receptacles for recycling, and also comes to collect said recycling.
Have you ever attempted the Latin crossword as mentioned by Rusty?
You will have done Latin at school.....did you enjoy it?
It was my favourite ( and best ) subject, . so I should be interested to attempt the crossword!

When I've been to bottle banks, the bottles I put in very rarely smash. However the bottles have been collected by bin-men (every month - sometimes there's a build-up!) for some years now.

ChrisE, I made sure I tossed the bottles in hard enough to make a noise! We've still got bottle banks (and clothes/fabric banks and, in some places, shoe banks) at many supermarkets, even though we've now all got individual recycling boxes (emptied fortnightly).

ahha, yes, malone, in the days I used bottle banks (big skips) I threw them in to make them smash. It was one of my son's favourite places to go as well.

Latin is complex for me, elle. Aged 12 I was put in the C stream for maths because I had missed the last half of the previous summer term, being in hospital. This meant I could never get into the A stream and the B stream had all the worst teachers. I got 25% for Latin (atrocious) but was top of my class! I had learned the English translation of the Aeneid Book 2 ("woeful oh queen is the tale I have to relate"!!) but clearly applied the wrong bit to the Latin translation. I did look at the Latin crossword when it first came out but decided life is much too short. Can you do it?

Later on I decided I would like to be doctor but my lack of O level Latin and A level maths (caused by the syllabus followed in the B stream) meant that was impossible. I could have made that up, in time, but I wanted to get to University now!

Hello, Elle!
I am just home.
Been a-visiting my eldest son.
It is a cracker of a day here.
Think I am home for the day now.
Fingers crossed for your goslings.
No sign of Lassie earlier but I have not looked since early today.
Laddie has done a sterling job with the nest!
The Latin puzzle is called "O Tempora".
Straight and mildly cryptic clues and all Latin answers.
I have never seen a query on the forum about that puzzle.
There are umpteen puzzles in the Saturday Times!

Hi, Rusty!
Ah, you will have had a good morning then, talking to your son.
You would not have seen Miss O'H though, she would have been at school?
I have been waiting in for some deliveries..... one has now arrived.
I am surprised by another fairly straightforward crossword today.......or am I at last perhaps getting the hang of this cryptic clue solving?
Anyway, I have finished the puzzle and parsed everything, too.
I knew 1a more as "tarmac" than "macadam"?
And 21d: "unitard" is a new word for me.
Did you know it?
I don't think that I have come across the Latin puzzle?
It may well be over my head...it is a long time since I studied Latin, although I always enjoy the occasional Latin clue that turns up in general crosswords.
Time for some home- made sprout soup!

Good afternoon, Elle!
No, I just saw my son, today.
Yep, it is mostly called "tarmac" in my experience.
"Unitard" is new to me, too, Elle!
Why not Google "O Tempora" and you may find some of the puzzles?
My impression is they won't be too difficult if you know Latin?

Good afternoon, Rusty!
I have tried accessing "O Tempora" crosswords, although I will admit I did so with little hope of success.
And I was fully justified in my expectations.
There is no access without a subscription to "The Times"!
I am not so keen to try one out that I will pay for it, especially as I receive all my other crosswords "for free", by courtesy of a kind friend!
What I might do, later, is search on Amazon?
They might have a book of Latin crosswords?
If so, then that would be good value for money, don't you think?
Food for thought......
Right now, I am going to take the dog for a walk.
Catch up with you later.....

Hello, Elle!
I think The Times is behind a paywall.
There are Latin puzzles on eBay, but I do not know about Amazon.
Years ago, I had The Times Jumbo Cryptic Crossword books and they were very good value, so perhaps the Latin books will be the same.
I am off out for a stroll and a loiter at the bottle bank!

Hi, Rusty!
I am home again from my walk.
It has been a very mild, though still dull, afternoon here.
It would have been therapeutic to have seen the sun!
Did you go armed with a glass bottle to the bottle bank?
I have visions of your taking aim.....!
I have found some Latin crosswords on Amazon, but not from The Times.
I may give it a miss?
I am not overly hopeful that I could do them anyway!
I have just been chatting to my elder daughter.
Is your other son visiting you this evening?