The fun we had - Carrie Evans

By the age of eight Carrie Evans had lived in eight different places in the UK. The various schools she attended were not always happy places and some of her teachers, if not actually psychotic, verged on the unstable and sadistic. Although it came as no surprise to those who knew her that she later chose a peripatetic lifestyle, it did puzzle some when she chose to make her living by peddling the present perfect in overseas language schools.

Beginning in the sultry, restrictive atmosphere of the Arabian desert in the UAE, Carrie bites the bullet to take advantage of a teaching job with a decent salary for once - but a despotic boss. Valiantly focussing on the positive aspects of her life there, she casts her mind back to happier days of childhood and candidly recalls her development as a language teacher. She reminisces about the places and people she met along the way, pondering her sojourns in far-flung corners of the globe.

A thoroughly enjoyable read that romps along from continent to continent, this beautifully written memoir is akin to an enormous postcard from the jaunt of a life. The Fun We Had is a tsunami of incident, gossip, and character vignettes, an exploration of other cultures sure to entertain anyone with a fascination for human quirks and foibles.