"Simon

Not a fully paid up member of BOFH yet are we!!!"

Au contraire, mon ami - I could teach the BOFH a thing or three when it comes to dealing with lusers in imaginative and innovative ways, and I'm slowly teaching my boss the ways of the BOFH ;-)

Fortunately, for the lusers at least, most of what I do now is development work and as such I'm kept behind closed doors with a steady supply of caffeinated beverages :-) As for the free beer, all I'll say that most of the afternoon of my first day was spent in the local hostelry, and I don't recall buying any rounds on that occasion (memory a bit fuzzy, mind!)

I should point out that my employers have absolutely no involvement in the studies, at least none that I'm aware of. Personally, I'm glad of that as if I'm going to do a site visit, I'd rather it were somewhere more exotic than Bolton :-) Now if it were, say, the University of Tahiti, then that's be a different matter entirely!