I take my hat off to folks who operate web sites about gardens. For a few years, I ran 3 web sites about gardening in zone 5. We had members all over north america and Europe. Alas there were a few folks who ambushed my sites and started posting items that were more appropriate in a bordelo than on a gardening site, so I closed them. It is unfortunate that those with devious minds are able to "spoil" nice sites.

I hope it's not lost! I did send it Media Mail though ... the US postal service equivalent of Slow Boat to China. However, it was only going about 30 miles and within the same state! Perhaps it will surface soon.

Leaving aside A Tale for the Time Being I remember someone here a while ago saying how they couldn't get on with Angela's Ashes as the subject matter was so distasteful. Now I admit I enjoyed the book and, for me, the 'distasteful' part was saved by Frank McCourt's humour. If it had been written from the angle of "Didn't we suffer as kids? Wasn't my Mother a drunk who starved us so she could buy booze? Didn't my Father run away and leave us when we got back to Limerick where we were forced to live upstairs in a hovel awash with raw sewage? Were we not beaten by the priests at school and wasn't I mocked over my 'yellow eyes' running with pus? It does sound truly horrendous and perhaps the fact that most of it was untrue (except for the eyes) helped to take the sting out of it. On the other hand We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (which I heard as a reading on radio) was most powerful (for me) at the end, when the 'why' came out. I agree with netla when she says that some 'true-crime' writers seem to revel in and 'Big Up' the criminals. We may not have as many baddies as there are in the US but some of ours are/were very nasty people. Much was made of the 'Great Train Robbery' because the thieves got away with millions of pounds worth of used bank notes, most of which never found, nor were the 'brains' behind the operation. Books have also been written about a notorious family the 'Kray Twins' who beat up/maimed/killed/tortured with no compunction in the East End of London, an area that still offers 'tours' of the back alleys where Jack the Ripper carried out his horrible murders. I'm not suggesting nothing should be written about these subjects, but why do the writers need to dwell on the pools of blood/dismembered body parts. I suppose I know the answer. It is what sells books. :-(

Can't answer that Carolyn! Didn't know you in the US don't use bitten. Does this mean you would say "I was badly bit by an ant"? I have also noticed in US usage the word fit is used when we would say fitted. eg 'The new 'fridge fitted into the corner of the kitchen' Re gotten. Is it used in 'formal' speech, as in a legal document for eg? While on the subject . . . I've noticed that in the US you say two times whereas we say twice , although the use of thrice (three times) is now considered archaic/Biblical.