Somewhere in the middle of my first 18 years!

"Ahh!" I exclaimed out loud, as in my anguish I had flung my hand against the wall next to my bed and accidentally bent my fingers backwards.

Pain was now added to the sadness and grief, I was already experiencing, having found myself left in a new and unfamiliar world dominated by concrete, steel and crowds of boys and people I did not know.

From the dark, in the direction of the bed crammed up against the bottom of mine drifted,

"It'll get better Robert, you'll see, everybody feels this way at first".

These kind words, that sent me off into a further round of heaving sobs, were offered up by fellow nine year old Christopher Venn.

Kip, as he was known, had been instructed to look out for me, as he was an old hand, having survived in this seemingly alien world since he was 5 years old.

And so the turbulent start of another life in a new colony.