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Stevo985

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Right, cheers for the help fellas.

Next time someone comments on how knackered I look despite being bright and alert I'll tell them villa talk told me to stop being a ponce about it and they should too.

FWIW I've been having the same dilemma. Don't be surprised if I get the work done before the end of this summer.

If you don't want full on surgery there are a few places now that do injections that last about 12 months for £100.

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Town was eerie today. It is usually pretty busy on a Saturday (which is why I prefer to go in during the week) with people shopping or just milling about but it was noticeably not the case. That certainly doesn't bode well for business, unless you are an out-of-town supermarket. Decent police presence too, although nothing like it was during the run up to christmas. I suppose the problems lie at the interfaces and the heavy duty rozzers are there.

Very odd and I don't much care for this current state of affairs.

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And to keep to the cheery tone this thread has taken on recently, I just found out a school friend of mine died last night, finally losing his battle with bone cancer.

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And to keep to the cheery tone this thread has taken on recently, I just found out a school friend of mine died last night, finally losing his battle with bone cancer.

In other news, Aston Villa have dropped into the relegation zone.

:mellow:

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As a crossword fan, this guy is my hero. And what a way to make an announcement... :mellow:

]Crossword master Araucaria reveals in puzzle that he is dying of cancer

Quietly, ingeniously and, of course, cryptically, the beloved – and sometimes feared – crossword setter Araucaria has used one of his own puzzles to announce that he is dying of cancer.

The Rev John Graham, who takes his pseudonym from the Latin for the monkey puzzle tree, told Guardian readers of his terminal illness in Friday's paper.

Above cryptic crossword No 25,842 sat a set of special instructions: "Araucaria," it said, "has 18 down of the 19, which is being treated with 13 15".

Those who solved the puzzle found the answer to 18 was cancer, to 19 oesophagus, and to 13 15 palliative care. The solutions to some of the other clues were: Macmillan, nurse, stent, endoscopy, and sunset.

Speaking from his home in Cambridgeshire, Araucaria said this particular puzzle had not taken him very long, adding that a crossword had seemed the most fitting way to make the announcement.

"It seemed the natural thing to do somehow," he said. "It just seemed right."

That said, he has no plans to refer to his illness in future puzzles: "I should think this is a one-off because I don't really know what else there will be to say."

The 91-year-old said he was very pleased that his doctors had decided against surgery or chemotherapy – two prospects he had been dreading. Exactly how long he has left, however, remains something of a mystery. "There isn't a prognosis, really," he said. "They simply don't know how long it's going to take. I asked them last week how long I'd got, but nobody knows how long you've got! They said it won't be years and years, but it could be a large number of months."

Araucaria said he had been very touched by the reaction to the crossword, which first appeared in the puzzle magazine 1 Across. "People have been ringing and sending me cards," he said. "It's been very nice, but I can't reply to them all."

Worried, perhaps, that he had appeared immodest, he was quick to add: "I don't mean that I've been inundated with them but I've had a nice number."

For as long as he can, Araucaria intends to carry on conjuring up several puzzles a month – just as he has for more than half a century. After all, he pointed out: "I'm not actually doing much else."

Three more puzzles are scheduled for the Guardian this month. "I can't stick at it for quite so long but it's going all right," he said. "Someone will have to tell me if the quality's going off, but I think it's all right so far."

Guardian

Legov you've misjudged that.

On VillaTalk?

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