I was two weeks late and then proceeded to scream for a year. My poor parents barely slept and my mother permanently smelled of sick!
Fortunately, I grew up out of those particular habits and, arguably, acquired more annoying ones. By the mid-90s my family home had become a house of unexpected meetings... My mother rented out rooms to keep the roof over our head and to provide an income as she became a single mother.
I met (and still meet) people of all kinds, tall, short, fat, thin, polite, rude, aggressive, dismissive, young, old, all genders, cultures and creeds… I learnt that every person is a walking story, even those I didn’t necessarily like or found boring or wished to never meet again, they all had something teach me about life or myself.
2004 took my mother, brother and I by surprise - the three of us were on holiday in Thailand when the Tsunami struck, check out my piece Boxing Day for the full story, were incredibly lucky to survive without a scratch.
The rest of my teens were strewn with anxiety, puberty, overcompensation, drugs and the desire to be older than I was, alongside helping my mum develop her businesses. University came and went, afterward, I wrote newsletters and articles about hospitality, a play, I worked on live TV as a floor manager, before dabbling in entrepreneurism.
Writing has always been a way of processing difficult questions, ideas, thoughts, feelings and it still is but now I am focusing on how to entertain and create something beautiful.
Survival mode kicked in when I was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, it was a difficult and relentless experience, but I can proudly say I am out of remission and in the clear (for the time being ;). It gave me the clarity I needed to realise I wanted to work and travel, and writing has fitted nicely into this dream.
Thanks to the guidance of Leon Conrad, I re-learnt what it meant to tell stories, as well as plug the gaps in my grammar and knowledge. After many years of hard work, I finally packed my bags and moved to Morocco in October 2019, kick-starting my creative career. Covid put a pause on my travels to date but, I am using this time to put all I have learnt into action. I have spent years saying I am a writer, now I need to back it up with content and finished products.
Kinesiology came calling and I am excitedly developing my knowledge of a field that has helped me tremendously over the years. It is also a financial backup plan if the writing takes longer than expected to financially support me.
All in all, I am working hard and writing hard, and (trying to) keep it simple.
Christopher
PS April 2023 - I find myself still writing, I am also a fully qualified Health Kinesiologist / Natural Bioenergetics and about to launch a drinks business with my mum – one last family HuRahh.
It’s called RamTang’ – it’s a world of taste and flavour.