Diolch Diff

The clock has ticked and my time in Cardiff is nearly over. The first leg of my journey begins with a bus ride to Cardiff Central on Tuesday afternoon. Once I get on the London-bound train, I don't know when I will be back. It might even be 'if I will be back...'

I gave up predicting my future a long time ago. One thing that life has demonstrated time and time again is that accidents and coincidences change trajectories. For example, I started teaching in Cardiff because I met a man in a pub who asked me in passing if I had ever taught business journalism. I said I had. 'Do you want to teach international MA students?,' he asked. As it happened, I was rather jaded with my freelance career - that is why I had gone out for a few pints - so I said, 'Why not?'

The man was a teacher at the university and his boss had asked him to ask around. Lo and behold, I happened to be in the right pub, at the right time, in the right mood. That was in January 2001 and I gave my first class two weeks later.

For the first two and a half years, I travelled to Cardiff once a week. With every trip over the Severn Bridge, I loved teaching more and more. Then, in September 2003, I moved to Cardiff and was given a full time contract. I quit the freelancing and academia changed my life.

Ironically, academia has now drive me back to freelancing. I have read so many books, been exposed to so many new ideas, had so many discussions with energetic, passionate people from all over the world, that I really need to do some serious journalism again. My Cardiff experience has rekindled my fire.

So I will always be grateful to the city and the people I have met here. Another irony is that I have felt more at home over the last few months than at any time since I arrived. But maybe that is the final confirmation that it's time to move on. Being in an emotionally safe environment has many benefits but it is... well... safe. I need an adventure. I need to step out of the comfort zone and see what coincidences and accidental meetings lie in wait.

I have a feeling that the next quantum leap in my unpredictable life will involve meeting another random person in another random pub. Whether the pub is in Brussels, Moscow, Vladivostock, Tokyo or Taipei, my future is out there somewhere. All I need to do is go and find it.