That was very good - and your English was more than good enough.

You brought back memories for me. I used to, as a late teenager, spend many hours sketching and painting (I enjoyed the sketching much more than the painting). My father thought he was doing the right thing for me and sent me to an Art College in South Africa. Within six months I collected all my art work and poured benzine over it and burnt it. I did not sketch again for more than 30 years.

I moved to song writing and poetry. So my father sent me to London and offered to support me if I get any poems published (I should mention, he was a businessman, but he had many poems and stories published, some translated into 7 languages and to him literature and art are what show us to be cultured human beings).

Needless to say, I stopped writing poetry and songs....

Now I write stories. I think it is what I am best at doing. However, there have been times I tried to sketch. I would find myself paralysed, unable to do anything. I think I feared I would fail and show that I am no artist - whereas, if I do not try, I can say that I am an artist who was pressured by his loving father and gave up.

It is odd how we can see the truth about ourselves and yet not act on the truth.