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Elle, Rusty, Chris, Ros, Rossim and everyone

May I wish you a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR -

A GOOD HEALTH IN PARTICULAR, and I hope your husband's
present problems will soon be resolved.


I am having lunch with some English Friends, so that will make
a change from my daily routine!

Happy New Year, Pigale!
Good to "see" you!
Hope you enjoy your lunch with your friends!

Good morning, Rusty!
And A Very Happy New Year to you ...and to all your family.
May 2020 be kind to you.
I hope your young ones enjoyed their Hogmanay celebrations last night.....
I expect you will be hearing all about it , if you haven't done so already?
Did you have any first footers?
Were you up very late?
It is a dull but dry day here.......mildish out at present.


Happy New Year to you, too, Pigale!
I hope you enjoy your lunch with your English friends.

Happy New Year, Elle!
It is mild here, too.
La Bamba was my first foot.
A bit after midnight she arrived with three friends.
Grand to see them!
We had the ceilidh on.
Very good it was.
I liked the choirmistress.
A tall blonde girl who did a dance at the end of the song, and seconds later was in a barn dance in bare feet!
The ceilidh came from Motherwell.
The documentary "Two Go To Tolsta" was very good, too.
Millicent and Sydney wanted to return to their Paradise, and left Hitchin with a bag of stale buns and sixpence three-farthings, and they made it all the way to the Isle of Lewis.
Great story!

Hi, Rusty!
I am glad you had a good time!
How nice that Miss L-B was your first foot., and you all enjoyed the ceilidh.
We were not up very late......but we might just as well have been!
Sleep was impossible...... fireworks were banging away till well after 2 am.
The dog was fraught..... and we ended up four in the bed!
(The cat was not afraid of the fireworks..... but hates missing out on anything!)
I was up at 4am letting the dog out into the garden, as she was too frightened to go out to "perform" before bedtime!
Your programme "Two Go to Tolsta" sounds good...I should enjoy it , I think?
A quiet day ahead of us under the present circumstances.
I think John has sent me some crosswords........there seem to be quite a few......I shall print them out.
Any particularly good puzzle?

Hello, Elle!
The choirmistress was Joy Dunlop, I have discovered.
She is a singer and step-dancer.
It was not too noisy here.
"Two Go To Tolsta" was very good.
They got the idea from Enid Blyton stories.
They were interviewed 70 years after their exploit.
Sydney returned to Tolsta for the programme, but his big sister, Millicent, lives in Australia, now.
And the credits at the end of the programme, ran to a Bing Crosby song!
So you would have liked that!
I found The Times cryptic to be tough, today, but I enjoyed the challenge.
One clue/answer I was not keen on as I think it comes from a TV programme, or it may just be "London speak".
Give it a go?

Update, Elle!
Here's a wee bit about "Two Go To Tolsta".

https://www.thenational.scot/news/18107751.two-go-tolsta-tells-story-childrens-epic-journey/

Hi, Rusty!
Thank you for the article about the children's escapade to Tolsta.
Yes, I should have enjoyed seeing that!
The story put me in mind of "The Incredible Journey".... a book by Sheila Burnford, based on a true story, where two dogs and a cat travelled 300 miles in the Canadian wilderness in search of their owner.
Have you read this?
It is perhaps basically a children's book, but I can recommend it.
There was also a film made in 1963, based on the book......
I saw this and thought it very well done.
Both book and film brought a tear to my eye at the end!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Journey

Hello, Elle!
I remember reading about "The Incredible Journey".
Seems a good tale.
Did you tackle a crossword?
I had some more first-foots but they did not stay long.
There is another documentary on BBC Alba tonight that appeals to me.
"Wild Atlantic Way".
Hopefully it will be good.
I am recording it.

Good evening, Rusty!
You did well then with the first-footers!
Did you "feed and water" them ?
Now, I have some info about the "Wild Atlantic Way".... and a song .... that you previously sent to me.....
A further documentary would be very interesting.......it is a pity that I cannot access these programmes!
Yes, I did the usual Times Cryptic puzzle.
Well, when I say "did"....there are two clues that I cannot solve?
1d: Get a load of paper to send up (4)
L?F?
11d: Paceman's length I recalled extremely unpredictable (12)
?U???S?L?E?Y
Please can you help me with these?
You mentioned a clue you thought came from a TV programme? or was "London speak"?
Which clue was that? I didn't notice anything as I was doing the puzzle?
(Unless of course it was of the two clues I couldn't do)