1.   Following years of heavy losses, the company is only a shadow of its former self.

2.   Following years of planning, major progress has been made in implementing the College Accommodation Strategy.

3.   The project was given a formal go-ahead by the Railtrack Board in January following several years of planning and discussions over financing.

4.   Following several years of intense competition and excess capacity, the merger was the most significant change to date in the rationalisation of the industry.

5.   It follows years of wrangling over a controversial by-pass.

6.   The decision follows years of anxiety about the high levels of respiratory illnesses in the area.

7.   Meanwhile, colleagues at International Paint Saudi Arabia in Damman have also been trained in first aid, with fire-fighting instruction to follow this year.

8.   As year followed year, and I was still not nearly done, I became convinced that I had gone terribly astray.