Abandon hope, all ye who enter here - a few facts about me.

I will be sixty in October 2008 after which it will be freefall towards senile dementia. Born in West Devon, educated somewhere in the middle of England, I have worked as an architect (mostly since 1978) overseas. Result:– as a Nigerian would say; "Massa gon bush".

In 1999 it dawned on me that 75% of my working life was spent chasing money that people had absolutely no intention of paying me – also that everybody I worked for and/or with was 100% corrupt (on a good day) and that I did not worship the god of mammon. With that I retired to Morocco with no work, nowhere much to live, no money and nothing whatsoever in the way of savings or pension. Only when I got here did I discover that my sum total of qualifications and experience, entitled me to do sweet FA. However, there was Fatima, to whom nothing is ever - dire.

Life is a matter of survival and has a habit of going on even, when you inadvertently try and terminate it. 'Bread on table' is the order of the day. Architecting (a little and only what I want to do - honestly Archi.ma), teaching fix-you-up-and-get-you-home English, management consultancy, journalism, broadcasting (sadly, only when the excrement hits the punkah), writing (things that nobody reads) and – curiously - translating (French - why can't they speak English?) and any other gainful employment that I can lay my hands on.

Even more curiously, translating is the only job that I have ever done where the clients have (as a rule, rather than as a rare exception) thanked me for the work I have done AND been complimentary as to its quality.

Other things - discovery and learning to unlearn.