[* The best way to describe Mr Windling would be like this: you are
at a meeting. You'd like to be away early. So would everyone else.
There really isn't very much to discuss, anyway. And just as
everyone can see Any Other Business coming over the horizon and is
already putting their papers neatly together, a voice says 'If I can
raise a minor matter, Mr Chairman . . .' and with a horrible wooden
feeling in your stomach you know, now, that the evening will go on
for twice as long with much referring back to the minutes of earlier
meetings. The man who has just said that, and is now sitting there
with a smug smile of dedication to the committee process, is as near
Mr Windling as makes no difference. And something that distinguishes
the Mr Windlings of the universe is the term 'in my humble opinion',
which they think adds weight to their statements rather than
indicating, in reality, 'these are the mean little views of someone
with the social grace of duckweed'.]