Could I get some confirmations from the community that I\'m not going mad, and that the life cycle of a page during post back is in deed in a different order to when the page is
The behaviour is slightly different but the order is the same. In this respect "Postback" is essentially a state flag on the request.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178472.aspx
(nice image btw)
edit: thinking about it, perhaps it would be helpful to outline your problem? Mentioning postback makes me think it's about databinding perhaps? The article should be helpful though.