Good news.
I am mightily impressed.
My friends at Foto Distributors-Nikon phoned me back and told me to come
and collect a new camera, a model up from what I had broken.
Thank you Lourens, who I spoke with yesterday. Lourens is clearly an
important person in Nikon-land (or at least competent).
I’m yet to see whether the new camera works. I’m waiting for the battery
to cahrge [edit: To the Spelling Nazi! I leave this typo here in impunity!] (the camera doesn’t take the many rechargeable AA’s that I bought for the previous model – grr) The saga may not be over yet, but
I’ll be optimistic.
[edit: Camera is just dandy!]
The Waffle Group 
Hmm. Taunting the Spelling Nazi can only lead to trouble.
I’m glad to hear you managed to find a competent Nikonperson who produced a sensible and amicable output. Re: your rechargeables, if they are penlight NiMH cells I will gladly take them off your hands for a nominal fee. I have more than enough uses for them.
-q-
Nice to know that competence can still be found. I wait in anticipation for the response by the spelling nazi, although he seems to be fairly quiet recently.
Bring the Spelling Natsi on! I kan tack him down!