I get that sort of thing a lot whenever I go somewhere in England - my Scots accent is pretty thick, even for a Scotsman, and although I can be eloquent and sometimes even charming in conversation (as if!), when I get flustered or uncertain, I slip straight back to my original "Tazmanian devil" colloquialisms.

And it really does annoy me when people "tut" at you because they can't make the effort to be polite and listen, or simply say "could you repeat that please, I'm afraid I didn't hear what you said".



Anyway, all that aside, remember that some long distance runners train at high altitudes for the same reason - when they get back down to sea level, their aerobic capacity is so much higher due to the physiological changes brought on by mild oxygen deprivation (higher red blood cell count etc etc).

Bourne