crikey thank you! i expect you realise how massively giddy this feedback makes me. :)
what you say about peter - yes! absolutely yes. he is disturbing, and basically a mystery to everyone he interacts with here. i think we all are to each other to some extent when we're that age, but he's turned it into some sort of perverse survival art-form.
thank you for your lovely comments about the language. you unerringly pick out the things i want to achieve and make me proud to think i've achieved them.