Tell me something you think I won’t know about you.

When I was about 4 or 5 years old I shoplifted. I have no idea what possessed me to do it. We were in the Central Bookshop on Victoria Avenue in Blantyre, Malawi (as opposed to Blantyre, Scotland as some of my readers are in Scotland!). I was an ambitious shoplifter – I took a bookmark!! My mum discovered what I had done when we were half way down the street. She was furious, and marched me straight back up to the bookshop to confess my sin and apologise for it. We went into the bookshop, and I had to explain to Hamid (the owner) what I had done, and that I was extremely sorry for it, and I would never do it again!

I was ashamed and mortified, although he was very nice and understanding about it. My mum’s methods had their desired effect though – I never again stole anything!