Marty

Morning (or afternoon, here), Gary. Been persistently piddling down here all day, so I'm gonna head out and do some shopping. Got some editing to finish when I get back, so I'll chat yous all later.

Greetings, young Albert!

Cheers, Gary!

Thanks.

Thanks, Val

Cheers, Page.

Well it's late Friday night, and I am now 1/4 of the way through my challenge to take and upload a new black and white photograph every week for 52 weeks...

Hey, Gary! You're more than welcome, bro.

Sure, the rain will help keep the dust down. Hi, clo!

So good, you said it twice!

Hello, young Albert (Hopefully you can see this with your zero visibility...)

My feeling is that the story ended at just the right place.

Ditto!

I'll be truthful and say that once I realised what the background was behind this short story I very nearly stopped reading, if only because it's a trope I've come across before and it doesn't usually work for me. However, @Headstall managed to grab my attention early on and hold onto it until the end. Two lost souls come together one evening. Trent is willing to take a chance, but Armie is reluctant as he feels it can't work. As the pair talk, and I learnt more about what has brought each of them to this point in their lives, I found myself liking each of them more and more. I'm not usually one to give spoilers in story comments so, if you want to find out whether Arnie's walls finally crumble (to use the metaphor that @Headstall uses in the story synopsis), you'll just have to read the story for yourself. I think you will enjoy it.

When I realised this was going to be another of those "Client falls for trick" type stories, I wasn't sure I would enjoy it. But you pulled me in, Gary, and I found I couldn't stop reading.

Hi, Page!

Eejit!

Hi, Gary! Today is promised to be the warmest of the week. Expected to drop back down to the mid teens (C) over the next few days or so.

Just after 3pm here, and the temperature's climbed a couple of degrees to 21°C (70°F). Fortunately the humidity's only 51%, and there's still no sign of any thunderstorms. In other news, the estate agent (realtor) through whom I bought the house has finally taken down the For Sale sign on the front wall. It was too high for me to consider climbing up a ladder to remove. The sale was finalised on 2nd October last year, almost 9 months ago. I think it may have been me telling him at the weekend that I was thinking of invoicing him for the nine months of advertising space that prompted him to make good on his many promises to take it down...

Hi, Albert!

Morning, all! Not too bad of a day here, following the first dry day for a while yesterday. Currently about 19°C (66°F) with hardly any wind, although there is a forecast risk of the odd thunderstorm. Expecting a phone call from my builder sometime today. Hopefully that means that he will be able to get on with some of the outstanding work in the near future.

And, because I've had a really busy day, culminating in a Zoom meeting from 7pm to 9pm, I have just rung the local chip shop and asked them to prepare fish and chips for me. I shall collect it in 10 minutes. Double yum!

Hi, young Albert! And, as my way of saying thank you....

Hi, Page! (As for your question... I dunno )

Hey, Gary!