Hi Malcolm, you certainly did very well learning braille there and teaching yourself is so amazing. I don't like having someone standing over me while I'm learning either. I like to be shown what to do and then be left to it and to learn at my own leisure. It's the best way and we learn quicker that way. Having said that though I learnt braille at the age of 5 at school so was different for me. While the sighted kids learnt to read and write in print I learnt braille so to me it was just the norm I didn't know any different. Yes I agree with you I don't like this new braille code with capital signs they have brought in either there's no need for it and anyway I have been brought up with the standard code so would have preferred it to stay the same. It just shows how things change but it's not always for the best. On the other hand as I never learnt capitals in braille I never knew where to put capitals when I started writing print documents on a computer as had never seen capitals before and had never seen print letters so had no idea how they worked so I had a lot to learn there too. That's where someone who has had sight in the past has an advantage over me. I used to get in such trouble for not putting capital letters in my work where they should be as the teachers in the mainstream schools never understood my situation although if I was in mainstream schools and colleges now things would be so much different as they are more aware and have more support but that's another story. Well Anyway back to the braille yes the downside of it is that it's so big and bulky and books can be in about 10 or 12 volumes or even more so not easy to store. This is why I prefer talking books now as they can be stored easily, easily posted back and also they are so relaxing even more than braille. Oh how funny. Your Elves seem to have got it wrong this time hahahahaha. Love Clare xxxx