Mossy musings

Blogs are, by their very nature, pretty self-indulgent enterprises. I assume that in the majority of postings made by a few million people around the world every day, the purpose is primarily for the writer to figure something out – rather than to entertain or amuse the masses. I'm feeling in a particularly ruminative mood today and as such am going to allow myself to wander down memory lane. This lane specifically stretches over the last ten years, to a point back in the year 2000 when I left the UK to live abroad for the first time.

2000 – the day after my last A-level exam, I hopped on a bus up to Heathrow airport and caught a flight to Sydney, Australia. I had never had a job before, and never lived anywhere other than Home. Within weeks, I had acquired a well-paying secretarial job at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Coogee; a few months later, I moved into a house a few hundred yards from Bondi Beach. I went to cheer on Kathy Freeman and Michael Johnson at the Olympics, saw in the New Year at the Sydney Opera House, and discovered mangoes...

2001 – after a month messing around in Canada and a few months working as a cleaner in a ludicrously poncy hotel on St Martin's, the Isles of Scilly, I set off for university. I joined the rowing club and lost stupid amounts of weight by over-training and under-eating.

2002 – ah yes, the year of the weir, when the women's 1st VIII all nearly drowned one freezing morning in February. This was also the year I was, somewhat hilariously, accused of 'criminal assault and battery' – how I wish I'd kept that piece of paper as a memento. I spent some time in Washington DC and saw in the new year in Times Square, New York; there, I became part of the world's largest synchronised bell-ringing event... I think this must also be when I went to Romania for a month, just to see how depressed it is possible for a human being to get.

2003 – this was the year I discovered South America – I went to Peru, paddled around on Lake Titicaca, dragged myself along the Inca Trail, and flew up to Cuba for the carnival in Santiago de Cuba. I spent two weeks getting the best suntan of my life in Jamaica and went home via Miami. I bought a DKNY tshirt for USD5 and didn't know for the next two years that I actually owned a piece of 'designer clothing'. Horrifying realisation. After a few weeks in the Amazon rainforest, I went down to Buenos Aires for new year and for the first time fell in love with a city.

2004 – I wrote reviews for London hotels and apartments, and gained my 1st in English Lit, despite only doing about four hours of work over the previous three years. I think this must be the time when I returned to Buenos Aires, spent a month in Santiago de Chile establishing that the two places were not remotely comparable, and passed the new year in BA. (I spent a few months living in a hostel, the Portal del Sur, and just a few weeks ago bumped into someone who had worked there – he was visiting Swaziland. Blimey.)

2005 – at some point, I figured that perhaps I should do something 'sensible' with my life and subsequently applied for a Master's degree at Oxford University. I still don't know why, but I was accepted. To celebrate this, I obviously returned to Argentina and Peru, coming home via Mexico, Atlanta, DC and NY. A month over Christmas in Goa, India, was followed far too rapidly by a transition to Sweden for the new year – my body never did deal well with the cold...

2006 – a lot of rowing coaching, a lot of messing about in boats, a good deal of Pimm's and many drives in classic cars around the English countryside. A month in Swedish wilderness was followed up by a long drive down to Andalucia and installation in the most miniature of cottages; I saw in new year in Knysna, Spain. I think this must also have been the year I went to Morocco and returned with severe and somewhat terrifying food poisoning.

2007 – after a few months messing around doing some work or other in Oxford, I took a job in Hong Kong. Thank goodness for discovering Lamma Island there, or I may not have lasted the year. Hang on, this must also be the year I first went to the Philippines, did my PADI course, and fell in love with the underwater world. And I also found out the merits (and curses) of sea-rowing, outrigging, and dragon boating.

2008 – mostly spent in HK, with a trip to Thailand thrown in for good measure. I ended up on Palawan island seeing in the new year. A year is never complete without a couple of months of serious Philippines beach time, I've decided.

2009 – a few months working as a writer and editor, and flapping about teaching English in Oxford, before rather randomly taking up a post in Swaziland, Southern Africa. I barely knew this place existed before coming here. A long trip to South Africa, and I discovered Kruger, the Garden Route, and incredible Cape Town – a decent place to see in the new year.

'A rolling stone gathers no moss'... Well, after those ten years galloping around the globe I am most decidedly without moss. Maybe a bit of moss would do me good. I wonder.

“A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” (George Moore)