Where does it all begin? Looking back it’s like I just appeared as a character in a story somewhere, the creation of a random author, a blank page to be written on by the rest of the cast. I have no recollection of thinking, “Ooh, where am I, what am I … Who am I?” Even the beginnings of awareness are fairly hazy, I’m not sure whether some are actual memories or family myths handed down (and accepted by me) from other members of the family, so this area is likely to change more than most over time, as maybe more memories, or myths, surface from the recesses of my awareness. I have no reason to doubt that even as a developing foetus I was aware of the world around through the filters of my mother’s emotions and experiences. This may become clearer in time, but I’ll leave that for the future. When we acquire the tag ‘human being’ has long been debated, and part of the human journey of discovery of who and what we may be; so without prejudice to that I’ll limit my story to the generally (although not necessarily universal) agreed consensus reality of birth onwards.