You are very perceptive, Kitty. As I wrote I myself was conscious of the spirit, if not the somewhat engorged personage, of Stephen Fry hovering in the vicinity of my right shoulder, offering a word here, a turn of phrase there. I suspect the verbosity of the piece will dissuade a great many from proceeding beyond the first paragraph, but for those few of us who enjoy dabbling in the arcane delights of language it stands as something of a homage to the man himself.

Now I need merely to locate my own personal simulacrum of Hugh Laurie and bliss unconfined shall surely be mine.