Dedication

My adventure through life was primarily influenced by two people: my mother, who both started me off on this adventure and gave me the initial freedom to do so, and Marie-Therese, my wife of now some forty-seven years, who provided me an unshakeable foundation from which to keep exploring the world by trying all manner of new things, with their attendant risks, rewards and, often, pain. All of which experiences were very interesting, and thus, instructive.

These memoirs are also dedicated to all those people who have the courage to be really curious, and who are willing to challenge the established order by focusing on the substance, as opposed to the form, of what life can offer. And who are willing to take the risks, including the alienation, that usually go with such an approach.