[pbecke]

Great stuff, Michael. Reminds me of the refrain of Bobby Magee's love-lorn boyfriend: "Freedom's just another word for 'nothing to lose'". (I don't want to be political here, but I'd rather not tell that to the Iraqi people!)

It's funny I wrote two answers to your post above, because I accidentally deleted the first one, when I finished it late at night.

The next day I posted you another one, and you didn't receive that either. Well, it's possible I suppose that I just thought I'd posted it and was distracted, because about this time my wife went into hospital and I've ben at sixes and sevens ever since.This is the first time I've been able to relax in front of the pooter for what seems like ages.

Anyway, the hernia operation was successful. They'd though they might have to cut off part of her instestine and even part of her bowel, but amazingly, they found the imperilled part viable and were able to suck it back in and fix a mesh in place. A very providential accident, I think, as she'd gone to see a specialist concerning quite another ailment, but retched violently that morning from nerves, fear, etc. I told her not to, but she won't listen to her Uncle Dudley.