Well, I received an email from my webprovider and he informs me that :
As far as safe mode is concerned, your safe mode is disabled and the open_basedir is set correctly
so far.. no more errors..
My web provider is great for making really good consessions for good customers - i'd happily endorse them if anyone wants to contact me seperately from the forums..
Thanks Ron for your help and insight - i learned a lot!!!
Cheers