Dear Mrs Rosa,

I am very sad that you persist in misunderstanding people's sincere and earnest efforts to guide and help you in finding the link to your Manx roots that you so keenly desire.

I have been trying to think of an analogy to help you see their questions in a different light. This isn't very original, but perhaps you could imagine that you and a friendly stranger are in a large, dark unfamiliar forest and you have a very important message to deliver at a distant house you have never visited before. You come to a fork in the path - right or left? You remember that someone once told you that you have to go left at the big tree. Your companion wants to be sure that is really the right way - she doesn't want you both to get lost and end up at the wrong house. She asks are you sure that's what the informant said as it's easy to mis-remember things after a time? How do we know this is the right big tree? She asks how certain are you that the informant really knew the way himself - had he seen a map, or had he made this journey before or just knew someone else who had? If so, could he possibly have made a mistake or forgotten a detail, although he told you in good faith? Your companion does not intend to discredit you or your informant but is aware that if an important decision is about to be made on the basis of this information, you both ought to know how likely it is to be correct before you act on it.

Now, if you had a printed, factual map and concrete signposts in the forest you would be more confident that you were going the right way.

I think the questions people have been asking you, Mrs Rosa, were only to try to help you find the map and signposts, the original sources of information, so as not to rely solely on verbal information and memories, as even the most well-intentioned, upstanding member of society can make mistakes or have lapses of memory.