Thank you, much appreciated. Really.

Also, hence my apology. It was not meant to be a broadside. I could sense that I was not getting my point across and was just trying harder. Perhaps too hard.

Regarding your other points, you are absolutely right. Strictly speaking, you cannot really trust anyone, even your closest friends. There have been countless examples throughout history proving that ("Et tu, Brute?"). But you cannot go through your life constantly looking over your shoulder, as I also mentioned in post #13. The answer is, IMO, striking the right balance. It is your own decision what the balance is.