"It is an honest answer and no doubt a clear & accurate one. I have never encountered the "head-above-parapet" phrase before, but I think I get the gist of it. It resembles some I have heard like "I don't suffer fools gladly." and "I don't take no shit of nobody."

I'm amazed that you've never heard that expression, Bill. It decidedly DOESN'T mean that I don't suffer fools gladly, or that I take no shit, etc. Nothing to do with any of that. It means that I'm brave enough (or daft enough) to post under my real name and say what I think without worrying too much about any comeback, which I'm always prepared to take (and I do apologise if I get things wrong, and I think I've done that on this board more than most people, though I'll let others do the count). As a matter of fact, posting under my real name often gives me pause, believe it or not, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't know who most of the people here actually are. There's Doug, there's Jim, there's Brian, there's even Joe Offer. Life would be so much better if we all knew who we were talking to. I wouldn't talk to anyone in a real pub who had a cardboard box on their head...