accessing node by position

Hi,

I need to access an xml value by it's position.
can this be done (or is there a better way to do it)

I have the xml below for generating a table.
I process <columns> to build the table header, then <rows> to build
the body.

When I am in a cell I need to find the type of the data for formatting
I don't know how to access the correct type node

I was thinking of something like
<xsl:value-of select="../../../columns/column(position())/type"/>
but after reading the faq that sort of 'on-the-fly' XPath generation
isn't allowed

Is there a nice way doing this?

Any help appreciated!

        Vin

<table>
        <columns>
                <column>
                        <type>datetime</type>
                        <value>time</value>
                </column>
                <column>
                        <type>float</type>
                        <value>Item1</value>
                </column>
                <column>
                        <type>int</type>
                        <value>Item2</value>
                </column>
                <column>
                        <type/>
                        <value>Item3</value>
                </column>
        </columns>
                
        <rows>
                <row>
                        <cell>
                                <value>2004-05-05T12:53:34.873</value>
                        </cell>
                        <cell>
                                <value>1567.98765</value>
                        </cell>
                        <cell>
                                <value>136</value>
                        </cell>
                        <cell>
                                <value>hello</value>
                        </cell>
                </row>
        </rows>
</table>