thanks so much inacorner and mtd for your comforting words. I am currently 1000km from home... this is not a 'social holiday', rather it is a scheduled hospital visit for my daughter so hopefully I can sleep (what's that?!?!) tonight and take tomorrow as it comes- tomorrow I ask my mother (I am originally from 'here' so my parents are just a short drive away) about some details from this incident...without going into any details lol. Thanks again for the support and I will be back soon.
ps inacorner, it is nice to know I am not alone and that there is even someone with such a similar story to me. All the best to you too, and likewise, if you ever want to PM pls feel free