Canuk

the "reunion" with his boat was quite emotional. Given what his Psych had said I was concerned about another panic attack..... Speaking of his Psych, he seemd to get a discount rate there for a non-resident!! I suppose very few non-residents actually turn up there, so the Dr. has never had to bill anyone other than something that ~equates to the Medicare scheduled fee!! over all, as KevinD said a satisfying chapter. One that rounds out the characters. Loved the reference to a kangaroo farm......

But detroit has a great airport and airport hotel! (Delta was suposed to fly us LAX-Toronto Canada, but ran out of fuel.....) Pity that the taxi driver we asked to take us for a drive to fill in the unexpected stopover said "No!, nothin' to see"

sorry but if I was choosing between a partner who offered me 500k cufflinks, holidays in exotic places and a sportscar VS the one who wanted to take me hiking in Yosemite..... yosemite-boy wouldn't even get a look-in!!! perhaps because I am closer to Brad's age (and intellectual depth?) than I am to Will......

For some reason both my boys (now 24 & 28) call me Dad to my face and "Father" on the phone. I have never quite worked out why and they can't / won't tell me. They both call my partner by his name. very early on the youngest wanted to know if my partner wanted to be called Daddy, my dear partner looked at me with such a horrified look on his face we all agreed that his name was just fine. While my partner loves the boys dearly, he admits that the responsibility of being a parent terrifies him still.

Bizarrely the quiz had me as a Fox. In Australia Foxes are vermin <sigh>

sorry - it posted twice...... (after a message that said I had posted too often and should wait!!!)

Coming a VERY close second to my wonderful partner, Simon Baker (Patrick Jane in "The Mentalist) is my idea of heaven!

The problem is age is so intertwined with experience. I was ancient between 12 and 28( i.e 70's- mid 80's) , but somehow between 30 and 40 I was young-with-experience. Now things could hardly be better, but i certainly don't feel "young". so when does "young " stop", I think you can only tell in hindsight and it's terribly individual.

Gathan has never been my favourite character and in this chap I have to agree with PrivateTim, he's not nearly mature enough to follow the path he has set himself. Scarily it's all a bit autobiographical for me - in my case the olds were ultimately right; it just took 10 years and 90% of what I owned for me to see the light, as it were. In fact the entire Hendrickson/Kristin/Gathan soap just somehow doesn't work for me. either there is something much bigger behind it all or just about everyone is behaving more like drama queens than sentient humans. Perhaps things are different for the moneyed classes in mittel america????

I share your addiction and there are people like us out there so the boyfriend issue shouldn't be a huge issue. I know because I found one (we have been together 12 years!) and he collects books as much as I do. Fortunately half his are in French, which limits the duplications..... But you know you have too many books (well, too many for the outside world to call "normal") when you come to move house. We advised the moving company that we had 120 shelf metres (that is 120 metres (think yards) of books). The company called back twice: first question - did we mean 120 books?, second time they called back and asked if by "120 shelf metres" did I mean that the combined height of the books was 120 metres (I will admit to laughing at this question - I have never thought to measure the height of my books! ) Even then they only bought boxes for half the number...... So we may be seen as a mad bunch, but there are more of us out there than you may think..... As for cook books, you are right; they don't count (because if I counted them it would look like boasting!)

Holy F, good god man what an episode. To win, win so well, but lose, lose in so many ways. Really really well written. I am in awre of your control of that chapter. it will be awesome to se the fallout.... just hope our hero is OK and that he hangs on to Steven through this. I gather the bitch is, if not dead, then a little unwell...... congrats!

why are their costumes so bloody unsexy......

kevinD, I couldn't agree more!! The tension is bloody killing me! CJ - well written. the desperation in my and other's posts must tell you that!

never thought of John Hobart shaving.....

Grainger is in one hell of a tight spot - and not the sort of tight spot we usually associate with him. Mark (Yeh! my 'puter has generously let me use the little folk again!) you certainly know how to make our hero's life complex between the politics, the sex, the Dons, the sex, Nelson, the sex and sailing a squared-rigged ship while missing bits of vital string holding the entire contraption together you have not set him an easy task. Oh! almost forgot, he also has to sail without Roberts and with what looks to be a love sick sailor. ....... He must be seriously wondering if he'll ever get to plungie into his wonderful bath back home! great story, seriously engaged in this one. C NB had to edit almost immediately after posting - somehow the posting process stripped out every second vowel and made my grammar even worse than usual!

Grainger is certainly getting some interesting lessons in politics. I feel Ramsay is not there to do good. he worries me. As for him "entertaining" the Spanish Don, sus, very very sus. Mark, (just pretend that the little bowing bloke is inserted here - my 'puter won't let me put him in), at sometime in this story could you point out the str8 bloke on this ship? A bit like "Where's Wally", I am having trouble locating him!! great chapter - I'd give you stars if I knew how!

You have created one very scary girl. Conner, I think I'll join you in therapy; this is just scary as.. I like Steven's character dev too. The big bright bloke that has to exude self-confidence, but has areas where he is lost and confused. I worry that he'll end up colateral damage. congrats

Nice to see the good guys getting at least SOME of the story right!! great read - thanks

interesting "resolution" of the gathan/hendrickson issue. I'm hoping that they are not depending on that trust fund for their future happiness.... As for Will's confession: eithe his Dad is the most laid back father ever or Steph had given him a talking to first. His reaction semed way too calm. I don't consider myself to be a particularly high strung father, but had one of my boys come home with that story I would have needed some "calm down" time before I could finish the discussion. interesting to see what happens in Bakersfield ......

they need smiting. the "notifications" of your new chapters arrive randomly for the two stories of yours that I follow. yesterday I recieved a notification for a story "just posted" - unfortunately it was a for a story posted almost 12 months ago!!.....

you are one hell of a writer! I am the first to admit stories about gay school/college kids are no my thing. But this, what you have written, has me enthralled! I have just read all 5 chpaters in one hit and to say I am eager for more is an understatement. Your description of college life is close enough to everyman to make it recognisable, but extreme enough to make it a facsinating read. I'm hooked! Congrats!

Matt K, while I agree, I am not sure you see Dutch bloke's point; he is talking about a tabloid getting the story and as we have seen from the NotW catastrophe, facts NEVER get in the way of a good headline. I think that it would take an awful lot of financial muscle for Steph to keep this "story" under wraps, should it get into the wrong hands.

unfortunately slip-ups still happen even with the best of care/attention. A colleague`s parter had twins despite every test etc and this was in 2003. Unlikely and unusual but not impossible. (I think the colleague was in shock for the week after the birth - he certainly didn`t look good when he got back to work!) I think a set of identical twins could add a twist or two (could identical twins have different sexualities????) and we probably need a girl in the mix but as to the fathers of this brood , no idea - my answers in the poll were just sort-of gut responses!

No, I think on this occaision we need to call a spade a bloody spade - it`s a cliffhanger! :-) great tension, and pleased to see not all always goes to plan, just annoying that it doesn`t go to plan when Nelson`s aboard. Just hope Sabina escapes.......

my aim in life