Time to report on the last 24 hours or so. Frantic phone call from the UK from Mrs W ... they won't let me have any cash but I can buy food! Turns out, to cut a long story short, that yours truly, for the first time in 30 years (honest, it's twue, it's twue ... that's a quote from the tart in Blazing Saddles, Lilly von Shtupp) I'd written out a cheque so badly that they couldn't process it. Hence, they're cashless. Got on the blower to my bank and they were awfully decent and set up an additional credit line to cover the temporary embarrassment. I then faxed them to say transfer the cash to the Mrs! Let me assume that they did it!! I'll check shortly. Later on, Dima went skating and tried to use HIS cash card only to find that he entered the wrong PIN number THREE times so that was the end of that then: Different account, same bank. Don't know the end of that story but Mrs W told him to ask him mates to lend him a quid each ... and STOP BEING SO ENGLISH!! Feeling that the day had ended I was just about to settle down to watch a film (DVD on the laptop since all but CNN has disappeared from the hotel television "service") I realised that the power cable was still in the office. Got redressed and trailed back across town to retrieve it ... good exercise that I wouldn't otherwise have had; and it's the first time I've left such a cable behind! What's happening to the world? I'm listening to that glorious aria from the Marriage of Figaro that I heard on the Shawshank Redemption the other night: lovely if you like soprano duets, awful if you don't I suppose!! Just as I plugged in the external speakers to listen, though, the whole system shut down and rebooted. Why? I have spent the morning trying to connect a projector to my laptop in readiness for a seminar next week. Failed miserably: they are not communicating with each other. PLUS, no manual, no software no one else around. I'll keep you posted as if you're fascinated!! Going to review some films and books now and write a piece on cost plus pricing and absorption costing. DW