Thanks for the kind comments all of you. We are just returning the favours of so many of you that keep such a close ear to the ground, and that benefits everyone.

I have nothing cheerful to say about the stock market and yet I'm not unhappy. I am keeping my Sage shares and gazing fondly at the little yellow-spotted piece of quartz on my desk. Every once in a while I pick it up to remind myself of what a nice colour the yellow bits are.

Perhaps I should contact Sage and they might invite me on the next tour, and we could share another story out of that. Either that or they could let me run their backhoe for a few days. Dunno which I'd like more. No, the tour.

I would also estimate the chance of a NR before the conference at about zero. But it's anyone's guess. Personally I wouldn't mind getting "bitten on the bottom" from excitement myself:

Link: UK lottery winner student shrieks so loud dog bites her on the bottom.

c