PL_sv_count tip is great. I never knew that before

I didn't know about it either, until someone here at perlmonks came up with the idea a few months back. I forget who it was (... with apologies to the OP).

The ax fixup I can't comment on

I've switched to returning a POPs instead, as you suggested. Looks better.

Thanks again, for *all* that you posted.

Cheers,
Rob