Thank you Dialyn, you've got me wondering what your mother collects now. I think I collect receipts from supermarkets, & bills, they are certainly the only things I ever seem to have in my handbag. tjames, I forgot to say, your story made me shiver. Sigh...now that I've posted it, I can't see more than twenty bits I want to change. I really wish I'd carried the confrontation on long enough to give poor Alan the opportunity to offer his wife a choice between him and her gonks. It's not a line I get much chance to use. Shanna :-) now planning to revise this on her homepage at a later date.