If you renewed in a sim in March 2004, that rating would expire in March 2005 - so five years after that would be March 2010. That's not *my* definition of "perilously close"
I'm curious to know if you DID *renew* in a sim in 2004, and if you had kept the rating current from initial test up until that date.
Did you IR-SPA-ME with CAA in 2000 and sim in 2004, or IR-SPA-SE?