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Hello, Pigale!
The cold is better than constant rain, I think.
Rain is depressing.
But, we are in Winter, so must put up with a bit of weather!

Hi, Rusty!
I think that "dressed up to the nines" means dressed smartly? but I don't know why "nines"?
There was a "London" question on Eggheads again today.
Which London tube station was originally called "Gillespie Road"?
The answer was Arsenal.
I didn't know that.
Is the "Pine Cone" an around -the -clock - all -year Christmas cafe/shop?
We have one of those near London Bridge railway station - only a shop though, not a cafe - as I may well have mentioned before.
Is Miss ATW driving there in her car?

Hello, Elle,
I would be no good on Eggheads.
I finished a book recently on London murders and what was very apparent was that a huge amount of streets etc have had name changes over the years.
I do not know why, but they have.
Yes, Pine Cone is a Christmas shop, but it was in Summer I started going to it, not sure what January will be like.
Yes, she shall drive.
I am not sure about "nines"?
The Americans have a phrase, " the whole nine yards" but I have no clue what it means.

Hi, Rusty!
I think that "the whole nine yards" means everything , the whole lot that is available?
It isn't a phrase that I have heard spoken though, rather that I've read it somewhere.
I don't know about its origin?
I'm thinking that if the Pine Cone is essentially a Christmas shop, it will remain exactly the same throughout the year? at least in its interior, where Christmas decorations are presumably sold?
But what about the Christmas trees - there will surely be no market for those now until next December?
You will know more after your visit tomorrow!

It's an odd expression. I associate it with American Football, though "the whole ten yards" would make more sense!

It appears that no-one else knows either:

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

Hi, Chris!
Did you have a nice time?
Where did you go?

Brewer's is unable to give the origins, the definitive origins of 'dressed up to the nines' and 'the whole nine yards'. The latter has 'been explained with reference to all manner of bizarre measurements and quantities... the length of a hangman's noose and the capacity (in cubic units) of a ready-mixed cement truck to the dimensions of a nun's habit and the length of a Spitfire's ammumition belt, none of which stands up to close examination'.

We will all have to remain mystified - or as my mother used to say, 'none the wiser, but no doubt better informed'.

Hi elle

We had a week in La Palma. Mostly lovely weather, though we got soaked on the Friday afternoon and drove a long way to find a dry walk on the Saturday. We did several great walks and found some wonderful ferns.

If you go right to the top (about 2500m) on a clear day (as we did) you can see that the the horizon (on the ocean) is curved!

.............I could add that the temperatures here are a bit of a shock. Thursday morning, breakfast on the balcony, 25C; Friday morning clearing the ice off the steps!