My friends and me really for carnival in Osasco, São Paulo in 1983.
Why I moved abroad.
I know it might sound like an exaggeration but I have wanted to live abroad for as long as I can remember. My parents and I lived in Brazil from 1981-1983, I was 20 months old when we went and we returned to the UK just before I turned 4.
I believe because of my knowledge of Brazil from my parents and photos - I don't remember anything about it really - meant I knew there was a big, wide world out there and there was more to life than England, as much as I love my home country.
My love for Brazil - the music, dancing, football, food, guarana, picanha, latterly caiparinha and the people - has lasted nearly my entire life.
I was given an opportunity to move from the UK to Portugal in 2009 and it didn't take much thinking about. I was pretty miserable in life - in between jobs, going through a divorce, so it was a good time to start afresh and live out my dream of living abroad.
Moving to Portugal.
So, I made the decision to move abroad and once my rental contract had run out I was off, sold my car, some of my things, some things went to charity and the rest was packed up and shipped to my parents' house in Portugal.
I arrived here in April 2009 and soon after my aunt and uncle came, I confessed to them that I wasn't sure I'd made the right decision and asked them not to tell my parents after all the fuss and hassle they'd gone through.
Nevertheless, things started to look up, in the June I started volunteering in the local youth centre which was a great experience in many respects.
I continued worked there for a while and began teaching a bit of English, too. In the April of 2010 I decided I needed to look for paid work and ended up moving south to the city of Santarém, I worked in a language school there for just over a year and in September 2011 I moved to Póvoa de Varzim, about an hour south-west of where my parents were living.
The view from my parents' old garden.
The Guggenheim, Bilbao.
Moving from Portugal to Spain and back to Portugal.
I loved my life in Póvoa but something was niggling at me and after two years there I decided to move to Spain. Soon after moving to the town of Miranda de Ebro, I moved to the beautiful city of Bilbao and there I remained for the next 9 years.
I had a great job there, made many friends, it's a really lovely city.
However, due to poor health, in November 2022, I decided to return to Portugal to be nearer my parents as I felt I needed their support and I was tired of seeing them so infrequently as we're very close.
So, I sold my flat, quit my job, packed and shipped my things and said goodbye to my friends.