Notice how I said home? It's a funny thing; I've only lived in England for seventeen of my sixty three years and yet I still think I'm 'overseas'. I came here to play in bands on the (as it was then) Lion Breweries circuit; a week at a time in each Lion pub or hotel all over the country. For an eighteen year old who wasn't old enough to be in the pub let alone work in it, it was the dream job. Everything supplied - accommodation, all meals, travel allowance, and what was at the time a very good wage. All I had to do was get on stage for three of four hours a night and do what I loved. I did that for a couple of years and then got a job driving a delivery truck for Smith & Brown in Taupo, delivering bedroom suites, fridges and the like all over the central North Island. No planning involved.

Somewhere along the way I had to apply for permanent residence so I filled in all the forms, saying I was a truck driving musician and my application was immediately declined. Having consulted an immigration adviser who said I should re-apply and say that my lifelong ambition was to study forestry, my second application went though without a hitch and I haven't looked closely at a pine tree since.

Still not much planning.

Back on the circuit for another year, then worked as a copywriter and producer in various radio stations, opened a recording studio and music shop and played in numerous bands around Hamilton.

The shop went bust and I sold the studio. And we're only up to 1990.

The next 33 years were equally chaotic, but from memory most of it was huge fun. Then in 2024 the wheels fell off (health-wise) and I'm lucky to be here today.

So now I have a plan.

Over the next seven years I am going to design and build a boat. A slipper launch, the quintessential Thames leisure craft. This will be my second attempt at boatbuilding, the last one got as far as half a frame. Then Im going to put it in a container and ship it to Henley-on-Thames in England, where I was born, and I'm going to enter it into the Thames Traditional Boat Festival. And we are going to have dinner at the The Red Lion in Henley on my birthday in June 2032.

Sounds like a plan.