Thank you so much. I was once a lurker wondering whether and when to jump in and I'm so flattered you decided to take the plunge here. Your comment is just gorgeous -- it's so lovely to see one's hopes and intentions for a story reflected back so intelligently, (especially when one wasn't all that sure one had even got close to realising them.)

I've had that moment of being unable to remember a word in English without some very complex moves to regain it

I have too -- I was in Italy and the word was subsidise. Although it was even more complicated than I've indicated here -- it was suddenly as if all the Romance words of English had been chopped out leaving me with just the Anglo-Saxon to think in, while the bit of my brain that normally stored my Romance vocabulary was off processing Italian. I had this weird knowledge that the word I wanted meant "under--[something]" and I had to go through Latin before I could get hold of it. It is indeed odd, although it must be a million times worse when one can't go home.

Thanks again.