A very resounding hear hear from me and what an excellent idea to express appreciation to Chrisb at this time. So my sincere thanks to Chrisb for his unstinting, authoritative advice.
Thanks also to, well, everyone actually, for sharing their experiences and knowledge and questions. Everyone contributes in their own way, but often it is the interactions into which postings develop that I find most informative and helpful. To be honest, if I hadn't found this forum, I'm not sure if I really would have done a fast at all.