Hi Phillip As an avid cryptic crossword fan, I can't resist....

Hi Phillip

As an avid cryptic crossword fan, I can't resist. After all, you seem not entirely disconnected from the capital market, you post infrequently but incisively, and yet here you are in the middle of a working day posting apparently incidental folksy homilies. My inner Machiavelli suspects clues lie within.

I bought my bus ticket nearly two years ago; since which time I have bought more tickets. Persistent con men have tried to relieve me of my tickets on the pretext that my bus will never arrive. Now, though, as you predicted, a bus seems to be topping the hill before my stop. But wait: Is that a second bus? And a third? Yes, they're drawing closer now and I think I can even make out their destinations ...

What towns are they now? The first is clear - Woodside. The others remain blurry, but one could be Exxon and the other Total. It seems I might have a choice.

Lucky I'm patient and lucky I kept my tickets.

OOO