I am interrupting the profiles because something fairly major has occurred in the States. Dave Marley, one of the boys in the family I was living with, while working out there during my gap year, has ended up in hospital. While playing with friends in the woods near his house where he and I used to go paintballing, a tree fell on him, fracturing his skull and leaving him in a coma. The doctors suspect brain damage although the severity is hard to assess. I have been informed that he is now being kept in a medically induced coma to prevent him from struggling (he appears to be in a great deal of pain when he surfaces) until they are able to operate. Details are scarce and usually third hand with him so far away, which makes it much harder to cope with, but I can only hope he does make a full recovery swiftly. More information when I have something concrete.