I had gone to live with the ‘famous ice-makers and ice-breakers of Tibet’. It was now ice-breaking season and family groups, including tiny toddlers, were breaking the ice with pickaxes. However, as an outsider, I was required to serve an apprenticeship on the fish gutting production line where I inexpertly cut fish tails. I was paid in pig’s offal.

Fortunately, I got a new job operating a lift to the top floor of a tower block. When I got to the top, my friends C and M were living in what looked like a sixth form common room. Desperate to sit down, I made my way to the sofa only to be told to stay away. The sofa was delicately balanced on a pebble and no-one other than M was allowed to sit there.