without sounding rude , you could have greased up the grommet to aid pulling the cable through .
i only ever took my release handle off [email protected] and it kinda fell off so as to putting it back in if they are spring clips give it a smack in position with the palm of your hand
mmm maybe I should have greased the grommet, only it wasn't exactly easy to get to from either side. It said nothing in the Haynes manual about removing the insulation inside the bulkhead and I was reluctant to remove too much to get at the grommet, in case it wouldn't go back properly. In the engine bay, the corrugated conduit for the main loom got in the way.
The release handle mechanism didn't exactly 'fall off'. I couldn't get at the plastic clips to release them, but after applying a lot of physical effort first the release handle fell out of the mechanism and eventually I managed to shift the mounting block. My concern was that I might have bent the mounting, making it difficult to fit the replacement.
Eventually, somehow I managed to click the new one into place and adjust the cable, before reassembling the fuse box and the driver's side lower facia panel.
I suspect that, like so many other jobs, once you know how to do it, it shouldn't be too difficult, but if you are trying to do it from a Haynes manual that is less than helpful - which gives a detailed description of the obvious easy bits and glosses over the difficult ones, like how to release the release handle mounting block - it is one of those jobs that should be relatively easy, but is a lot more fiddly than it looks. The main problem being one of poor access.
Finally the Haynes manual says "check the release mechanism for satisfactory operation". What happens if it isn't and you can't release the bonnet catch...? The 'adjustment', not that it is obvious, appears to be on top of the front body panel, under the lip of the bonnet!
I'll post a description, with pics, in the Wiki section, when I've had a chance to download the pics.