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Hello, Elle!
Fine day now after the rain.
Is that you back to normal now?
Yes, the young ones are safely home, but very tired, I am hearing!
I may see them in a day or two.
My grandson is coming to see me any minute now.
Be good to see him!

Good evening, Rusty!
Yes, all quiet here again, now that my daughter and the boys have gone home.
We are missing them!
We have the plumber coming next week, though, to replace the shower cubicle in the guest bathroom......so chaos of a different sort will reign for a while.
There are a number of household tasks that need doing......we are trying to work through them, gradually.
I am glad that the girls are home safely.
I expect they been "living it up" whilst on holiday......and then it is a long journey home...
So no wonder they are tired!
Perhaps you will all make it to the Pine Cone at the weekend for a catch up?
I hope you had a nice time with your grandson!

Good evening, Elle!
Just had a very heavy shower!
Yes, you will miss your family!
Should not be much chaos with a replacement shower, I wouldn't think.
The girls went straight to bed when they arrived home.
Yes, it was a long journey from Las Vegas.
Miss L-B is back at work tomorrow.
I won't mention Pine Cone to them.
Let them have time to settle back home etc.

Hi, Rusty!
We have been having heavy rainstorms all day here, too.
None of which was forecast!
All the bedding and towels are still out on the line!
I am hoping for a drier day tomorrow.
No, I don't think the shower cubicle replacement should be too big a job...…The electric shower should remain in situ......and it is only the cubicle itself that will be moved.
And of course the walls and floor will need to be retiled where necessary.
The plumber says it will take three days.
It is good that we have two bathrooms!
Miss L-B isn't having much time to recover from her "jet-lag" or whatever, if she is back at work tomorrow.
When does Miss O go back to school?

Hello, Elle!
Still getting heavy showers here!
Hope your shower replacement goes well.
Not heard from the girls since tea-time, I think they are asleep!
I think Miss O has another week before she returns to school.
But, I am by no means sure!

Hi, Rusty!
It seems to have stopped raining here.....
I did my first crossword of the week (since Sunday's Everyman!) today.....
Entertaining two young boys does not leave time for wrestling (in my case) with puzzles!
I thought it quite a nice one?
I especially liked 12a: worrisome; and 19a: churlish
But in 18d, I don't pronounce "Raleigh" as "rally", but as "Rahleigh"
How do you say it?
And I couldn't understand either 15a for which I had "divert" and 14d: "incompetence" ?
Please can you explain?
Also, I would have thought that 22a would have been "co-linear" rather than "collinear" (of which I have never heard) but I didn't bother to check the dictionary.......it may well be there......

Hello, Elle!
I say "Rally", like the bikes.
15, the football cheat is a "diver", with start to "t"hink.
14, is "lousiness".
If you are "lousy" your hair could be full of nits.
Nits are the eggs of lice (louses).
Lousiness for incompetence, it looks like.
"Collinear! is in Collins.

Hi, Rusty!
Uhm…....we say "Rahleigh" for the bicycles, just as we do for Sir Walter Raleigh!
Thank you very much for explaining "divert" and "incompetence" - the parsings of those were quite beyond me.
I am surprised by "collinear".......if you had asked me to bet my shirt, I would have gone with "co -linear" being a word!
I am sure that I have come across this.....but perhaps used incorrectly.....
Maybe I shall do better tomorrow!

Good morning, Elle!
Looks dry outside....so far!
I thought there was only one way to pronounce Raleigh!
It's the state capital of North Carolina, too.
I can't find your "co-linear" or "colinear" in Collins or Chambers?
Maybe, best hang on to your shirt!
The "diver" as a football cheat, is something I dislike a lot in football.
Far to much cheating goes on in football.
I'm off to see my dentist soon, for a check up.

Sir Walter almost certainly pronounced his surname "Rawley". I've heard of a poem which rhymes it with him being treated "rawly", but I've not been able to locate it.