ok then...

I went to change the comments to be site users only and came across the thing Dan mentioned, so we'll give that a go for a while. if we still get them, or people get irritated by them, then we can go to the site members only option which will definetly work (but also mean casual browsers can't leave any messages, including people we know etc).
so then.
tell us what you think.
ps am gutted to be missing out on pot noodle... but then i am going out on a mammoth night out with work tonight, so that'll be good. and there's tomorrow's sophisticated soiree...