I returned to London with nothing, and did two days decorating and on the third day, had to quit. I couldn't see what the point of it was. No event to go to, no target to reach with my wages. So I walked out with £50 in my pocket and nothing else. Went to a park and sat down to think. Probably around the time Lakeshore was walking down the road from the ashram with his battered suitcase.

I had spent years focusing on meditation and events and my life totally revolved around that. And now, what to do? And it occurred to me for the first time in a long time, I could do what I liked. But I frankly didn't know what I liked. What do people do? If they could do what they liked. I had a notion of like a place of my own, to not be sleeping rough or on people's sofas. My own bed and a few books. But a house was to far off, and too much of a commitment....

I sat for hours in the park on a bench, then walked off. I saw a newsagent, and I walked in though I didn't want to buy anything. At the magazine stand, I thought, this is what people want. Here are magazines dedicated to people's hobbies and passions, and I started at the beginning to see if anything would fire my imagination. I worked my way through the magazines totally uninspired till I reached Yachting Monthly. I knew nothing about boats. Well, I'd heard one thing. I overheard a man on a Greyhound bus saying a 30' boat would be big enough to cross the Atlantic. I doubt I'd given it a second thought till I saw that magazine. I thought if a small yacht would be big enough to sail the Atlantic, it would be big enough to live on. So I looked at the classifieds at the back and figured £10,000 would be enough to buy a yacht. And I walked out of that shop wondering how to get from owning £50 and a bag of clothes to £10,000. A new direction. Just like that. As whimsical as hell.