After graduating from Hull University with an MA in Political Philosophy in 1990, and completing a third of my PhD on ‘The Theory of Despotism in Western Political Thought’ in 1992, I left Hull to go travelling.

I spent an enjoyable first six months back-packing around South-East Asia. The second six months I travelled around Australia, ending up in Melbourne, where I worked for a bungee elastic producing company called ‘Jump, Trip or Fall’.

Initially, this year had been intended as a well-deserved break after many years of study, before returning to Britain in search of gainful employment. But all the best-laid plans … etc; I had been incurably nipped by the travel bug. On my return to the UK I decided to attain qualifications that would help me to satisfy my desire for further travel. I studied to be both a French teacher and a teacher of English as a foreign language.

My first teaching post was in the northern French town of Rouen, where I spent a few years teaching French and English in a special school for children who, for one reason or another, were wards of court.

This period in France was a very enjoyable and fruitful time for me. My French became fluent, my teaching career kicked off, and I had time to pursue my great love for music – playing in a group that had a certain degree of success in France – the group, which some Francophiles may have heard of, was called DFGB.

Eventually, with a heavy heart, I decided that it was time to move on. After the summer holidays I drove to Oporto in Portugal to teach business English. Needless to say, I felt very fortunate to be able to spend my winter in warmer climes. Excluding preparation time for classes and marking, I taught from 5 pm to 10 pm five days a week. This was because my students were business people who would come to classes after their day’s work. It was in fact an ideal set-up, for it allowed me to spend the majority of my days sightseeing and making the most of the sunshine.

After a year in Portugal, and subsequently a short spell in Cork in Ireland, I ended up in the place where I have now been for several years, namely eastern Germany.

I first set myself up as a teacher in Berlin, working mainly with university students. This opened up the door for me to lecture in my beloved subject of political philosophy. When I had been in France all those years before, I had borrowed a cine camera from a film-student friend and made a 40-minute Truffautesque film entitled Count Rouen. Whilst in Berlin I was pleased to get the chance to have my film publicly shown at the Berlin Independent Film Festival.

After spending a lot of time with a Polish/German lady I had met in a Cuban bar, I eventually moved to her home town of Leipzig. I now consider this to be my home; and unless one of my applications to lecture in politics in Britain is fruitful, I can see myself staying here for a little while longer. Not that the travel bug has left me, you understand … At present I am writing a book which will be published in 2002.

My wife and I were married on 12 February 1998 in Laugharne, the little Welsh village in which I used to go scrumping for apples as a boy.

So, that has been my ‘Life after Hull’ … so far.