I wanted to have the tick on the x-axis right over the label so I lurked from
another post (Andy) the following:

"Double click the category axis and on the scale tab uncheck,
Value (Y) axis crosses between categories.
This will mean adding a dummy set of data to the begining and end of the
data series otherwise you will loses 2 columns."

I did this, including adding the dummy set at the beginning and end.
However, now the first bar in the column chart is pressed right up against
the y-axis and its width is only half of that of the other bars. How can I
get it to space correctly?

Using Excel 2003.

tia for any suggestions