PHILINFRANCE

I suppose it is all down to personal preferences. A few years ago, my wife and I spent a week or so in Andalusia, travelling around a bit before arriving in Sevilla, where our daughter was studying. We visited various tapas bars/restaurants in Malaga, always seated at a table, and enjoyed everything. Driving up to Granada, we tried a highly recommended tapas bar, where, as advised, we reserved a couple of stools at the bar. Whilst the tapas themselves were excellent, we both found the experience slightly uncomfortable, constantly having to shift to let people through, and people brushing against us if they couldn’t get past quickly enough. When we arrived in Sevilla, it was wonderful. OK, perhaps Sevilla is a relatively small and sophisticated town and, of course, our daughter knew where to take us (and spoke the language!), but our dining (tapas) experiences were absolutely fantastic, culminating in the most wonderful restaurant, with fantastic decor and smooth, friendly and efficient service. Needless to say, prices were very reasonable, and we sat down and ate comfortably and casually, but sumptuously, throughout the evening, with no bustling at the bar and, one of my bugbears in the UK, nobody hassling us to hurry up, as we were only able to have the table for two hours maximum - we stayed there until well past midnight, and I would have happily stayed until dawn, such was the experience. Somehow, I don’t think eating at the bar would have provided the same relaxed and enjoyable experience.

I used to watch 'Love thy Neighbour' occasionally, although it certainly wasn't my favourite TV comedy of the time. What sticks most in my mind, however, was how one of the stars, Nina Baden-Semper, was probably the first black person I ever got to chat to on a regular basis. As a teenager back in the 1970s, I used to have a morning paper round and, unbeknown to me, Nina was one of the customers on my round - she had recently married a vicar and moved in to the neighbourhood. I first happened upon her one morning during the school holidays, obviously starting my round later than during term time, and when, in my teenage embarrassment, I blurted out something along the lines of 'You're Barbie, aren't you?' - this was her character, and not the later partner of Ken - she smiled that lovely warm smile and told me that I should call her Nina. Thereafter, we would always say Hello and have a little chat. What a beautiful lady - in the true sense of the word.

Was it this one? Wordle 528 4/6 ? ??? ?????

Yet another fortunate, inspired guess. Wordle 527 3/6 ?? ? ????? Wow, I thought I was going to finally lose my 100% record. Daily Quordle 308 quordle.com ?? ? ? ? ??? ? ????? ????? ? ?? ? ?? ?? ?? ? ????? ?? ?????

ERROR

Bath City! My apologies. Reading through the thread, I now recall that this was in the FA Trophy.

Nearly struggling. Wordle 526 5/6 ? ? ??? ????? Hmmm. I suspect the top right square might catch a few. Daily Quordle 307 quordle.com ? ? ?? ?? ?? ?? ? ? ????? ???? ????? ????? ?? ??? ??? ? ????? ?? ?????

Or not ?.

I reckn Whyte might lose this.

Today's was much easier. Wordle 525 3/6 ?? ? ????? Wow. Talk about lucky, inspired guesses! Daily Quordle 306 quordle.com ? ?? ? ?? ?? ?? ????? ??? ????? ? ? ??? ?? ????? ?? ?????

I was in a very similar position. I had a vague recollection that ‘umbra’ was Latin for ‘shade’ - very vague, as my Latin studies were almost 50 years ago! - and, of course, ‘ombre’ is French for shade. I thought of ‘Umbro’, but wasn’t sure that was a proper, acceptable word and, in any event, I knew there was no letter ‘o’ in the solution. So, my long unbeaten run on QUORDLE continues.

I won't spoil it for others, but a comment from a fellow poster earlier on this page certainly proved true today. Wordle 524 5/6 ? ? ?? ??? ????? QUORDLE fell in to place quite nicely, though. Daily Quordle 305 quordle.com ? ??? ?? ?? ????? ? ??? ????? ? ??? ???? ?? ????? ??? ?????

You do surprise me ?. In all seriousness, I am also amazed (and pleased) that Oscar lived to such a ripe old age, especially given his illness.

As you might imagine, I come across a lot of Maghrebians, living and working in France. As I learnt many years ago, woe betide you should you inadvertently refer to a proud Berber (or Kabylian) as being an Arab, although, of course, many of both are Muslim. Whilst the rebukes I received were generally good-humoured, very similar to the reponse one might receive when referring to the Welsh/Scots and/or Irish as being English, or Canadians as being American, one should be in no doubt that they are very proud of their heritage.

Some of us of a certain age will remember Brian Harding, more fondly known as Oscar, who has sadly passed away at the grand old age of 82. I remember many a game at Eastville, when he would walk around the greyhound track selling his programmes. He always got a loud cheer when he reached us City fans, with a rousing chant of his name. https://youtu.be/kTQf7L5KG68

Some of us of a certain age will remember Brian Harding, more fondly known as Oscar, who has sadly passed away at the grand old age of 82. I remember many a game at Eastville, when he would walk around the greyhound track selling his programmes. He always got a loud cheer when he reached us City fans, with a rousing chant of his name. https://youtu.be/kTQf7L5KG68

What does your pet hamster look like? Brown and fluffy. Not red and runny?

Hi Mark, In principle, both hot and cold water have an identical pressure, but, just as a hot water storage tank may leak via the top inlet (due to rust etc.), reducing the temperature seems to reduce the 'pressure' and, consequently, the leaks. I found with an old hot water storage tank that the leaking joint no longer leaked when I reduced the temperature, e.g. in summer or during prolonged absences. I am sure any plumbers reading this will be able to explain the technicalities, but perhaps give it a try. Good Luck.

I was successful in solving 'NYMPH', but only at the last attempt - when I finally realised there were no vowels in the solution. Today's solution was one where I might have had to make three or four guesses after my second attempt, such were the possibilities for the first letter, but got it in three - as much due to luck as to judgement. Wordle 521 3/6 ??? ? ?????

Indeed, as was (should have been ?) the solution 'NYMPH' a few days ago.

It has always been a bit hit and miss for me. I have mentioned previously that I consider QUORDLE to be more of a challenge, whereas WORDLE is very much a game of chance, as witnessed by our successful solutions today - Well, it was certainly no more than an inspired guess for me, anyway.

Probably a 'Whoosh' moment, but I spent a few days in Bridlington (the Yorkshire one) some years ago and was very pleasantly surprised. An interesting 'old town', a nice walk overlooking the beach and some wonderful, fresh seafood, including lobster and scallops, at half the price one might expect to pay in and around Bristol, but twice the quality - or so it seemed at the time.

A very similar result. Wordle 520 3/6 ?? ?? ?????

Hopefully, there were no casualcheese.

A similar problem today. Wordle 519 5/6