We met Warren Buffet while on the American leg of our pilgrimage. He is famous for:

1. being the second richest man in the world.

2. and communicating with his shareholders in a uniquely clear - some would say blunt - and open style.

His letters to shareholders are eagerly awaited and widely quoted in the media. Here is an example of his latest letter to shareholders:

"Though our corporate performance last year was satisfactory, my performance was anything but. I manage most of Berkshire's equity portfolio, and my results were poor, just as they have been for several years. Of even more importance, I allowed General Re to take on business without a safeguard I knew was important, and on September 11th, this error caught up with us. I'll tell you more about my mistake later and what we are to doing to correct it."

An unusually genuine voice! Plain language surprises shareholders.

In England, we pilgrims met John Kirkman who has been slogging through the depths of despond. Those in charge of local development plans are fighting Kirkman's proposed change to use must instead of should.

Kirkman has been gathering evidence to prove that, "Applicants should conform to . . ." does not mean "Applicants must conform". To us, plain language pilgrims, that was intuitively indisputable. But, such objections to common sense are typical of the sloughs of despond we face.