I'm quite amazed.... In my absence from Christmas, up to some weeks ago, I had no chance to be here obviously and when I got back... I simply wondered where the thread went. It became such a part of my life, throughout the years I've spend on here, and though I did not frequently post lately, I will so miss that thread. One finds it strange that such things can come so close to your soul, but such things happen too with all those figures from the past - we get close to them, get the feeling we know them, by reading so much about them -, they get simply close to us. So, it is, too with reading on here.... In reading and doing research I feel as if the AP-forum in general has become a sort of substitute family, and with losing this thread, the family has lost one of its branches. Sure will miss hanging out there.
Oh, and "Griffh", do get that book published.... I'm always looking foreward for some good Romanov-material... Especially on the Empress, as there are so few biographies that really focus on her(I believe there are about 4 or 5?), so I am sure that your book might be well worth the wait, and that it might give is a better/different understanding of the Empress and her life.