"It was an absolute nightmare," Walker said.The cheers from the British camp drowned out the sighs of relief, not least because the pair have worked so hard for the medal and had to cope with intense pressure in a regatta which never ran smoothly for them.There was also the knowledge that this is the best sailing result in three Olympics when added to the silver won by Ben Ainslie in the singlehanded Laser the previous day.It had not been the happiest of starts with Merricks and Walker eighth at the first mark when they needed both to be in the top nine and ahead of the Portuguese to be sure of silver. "When we were down near the committee boat we turned to it and I hope our faces said 'what's going on, why are we racing in this'." It was not until they sailed the boat back into the marina that their team colleague Bethan Raggatt was able to tell them the silver was safe "There was a feeling of complete relief. However, old-fashioned paper-and- pencil mathematics suggested they had a one-point advantage, and eventually the computer agreed "Crikey, what a race. It couldn't have been worse apart from the outcome," Merricks said after enduring sharp changes of weather as they tried to stay ahead of their rivals. By the narrowest of margins John Merricks and Ian Walker added a second silver medal to Britain's Olympic sailing haul yesterday. They were 12th in their last race,as the weather played its tricks and the computer said a tie-break would be needed to separate them from the Portuguese pair of Vitor Rocha and Nuno Barreto. " Nigeria never gave in and they won on merit," said Zagallo, who has been criticised for asking too much of Europe-based players such as Juninho and Roberto Carlos.

They both spent the last European close-season playing in the Copa America.. She loved the challenge of the sale and this meant that, even if she had to go beyond persuasion to gentle arm- twisting, the sparkle in her eye still left the customer a friend.When in 1990 she became a founder member of Equal Exchange, the Edinburgh- based fair trade co-operative, she found a task to which she could apply her commitment and which was a challenge for her ability. Her expertise enabled Equal Exchange to take products as diverse and unusual as pecan nut butter, Tanzanian organic honey and Nicaraguan tahani to an intrigued national market.Wholefoods are big business today, but few recognise the diversity of participants, from subsidiaries of multinationals to large co-operative wholesalers and retailers dedicated to a lifestyle rather than a business. He was a tantalising two runs short of his 150 when he took off from the non-striker's end in response to Reuben Spiring's call for a single.Hick was a slow starter and by the time he spotted the danger Trevor Ward's accurate and fast throw had reached Simon Willis's gloves. People say they would like curbs on the use of private cars and greater subsidies for public transport, just as they say they would pay higher taxes to support better public services. But when people vote on tax at an election, or vote with their chequebooks on 1 August, they do something different.Meanwhile we need to crack the ludicrous inefficiency of the 1 August rush without spoiling the fun. Various ideas are being considered, with the short-term remedy of changing the year letter more frequently, say every three months I have a suggestion, inspired by my visit to Jack Barclay It is that everyone should have a cherished number plate.