Jim: Jim. Jim! Thank you. Again, spot on! I confess, the horse metaphor never entered my mind. Possibly because I am utter crap at metaphors. I think if I tried to develop that one, I’d mangle it!

My pronouns are always all over the place, mostly on purpose. I think it’s a bit of a defense mechanism, so it’s at once embarrassing and heartening that you pointed that out.

The solitary ‘and’ was a silly whim and even I, myself, wasn’t sure how it was supposed to read (well-spotted).

And finally, yes, I did intend to exaggerate the ‘disappearing country’. This person doing the talking has a tendency to overstate things, but, of course, being unsure of who is talking you wouldn’t be able to deduce that.

I don’t know if everyone else finds our little ‘dissections’ entertaining, but I get a LOT out of them, so thanks again. :)

Your Wandering Mind: Thank you. :)

I had a problem with who was talking here and to whom; the pronouns are all over the place. I’d have a wee look at that.

I found the solitary ‘And.’ which follows ‘…a country that no longer exists.” interesting. I read it over a few times and wasn’t sure how precisely you would say it. If you’d added an ellipsis after it then that would’ve helped.

As for the country – ‘Only in history books, and then only the most obscure’ – I feel that’s an exaggeration. No one working the streets would be so old that ‘only the most obscure’ history books would have details of her country of origin. The idea’s good, I just think the language needs to be tempered a bit here.

Loved ‘In shades of cream and pale and cool’ and ‘our superiority and our virility and remarkable civility’ by the way.