I always find this so embarassing! (really, I do) but thank you all very much for the well wishes. Yes, another year has flashed by, like they all do now, and I'm even more advanced into middle age (42) and more bits don't work quite as well as they used to.
So far I've had a lovely Armani watch off Mrs Taw (very expensive and I wasn't expecting it and she's spent far more than I'm comfortable with her doing) and a pair of cufflinks off my daughter. nothing off the boy except a few grunts in between his Warcraft sessions. I got a new drill off my mother-in-law (power tools are always good!) but Mrs Taw's sister and her husband came to visit and confessed that they'd left my present behind. Oh well, I've been making them feel guilty all afternoon especially sice they tried to make out that my Armani watch is a fake (yeh right, I just found the receipt!)
ah me, I have to go and attend a neighbour's housewarming party now, I don't like socialising (especially as i don't drink for the obvious reasons that you pointed out, Wouter) but Mrs Taw thinks it's therapeutic for an agoraphobic like me to go out and "mingle" - it's not, but she-who-must-be-obeyed must be obeyed. When you young fellows grow up and get married, you'll understand that the secret to a successful marriage is to do
exactly what your wife says and don't argue about it!
thank you all once again for the kind thoughts