After I left Classic FM in February 2008 I worked briefly at the Big L, a tiny AM radio station based in Frinton-on-Sea in Essex. I had gone from one of the biggest stations in the country to one of the smallest in just a week. The Big L project was a very interesting experiment in radio and communal living. I moved into the 'Big L house' with some of the biggest names in British broadcasting - former Radio 1 DJs Mike Read and Adrian John, ex-Radio 2 host David Hamilton, offshore radio expert and broadcaster Ray Anderson and former Dr Who and Carry On Doctor actor Steve Garlick. The living room was full of pictures Mike had made out of empty chocolate bar wrappers and he later staged an exhibition of these imaginitive works at an art gallery in Brighton.

Despite the happy atmosphere at Big L, both at the radio station and in the house, I began to sense that it was time to move on, and set about negotiating a move to one of the biggest broadcasting organisations in the world. My departure coincided with Big L's descent into unresolvable financial difficulties, which ultimately led to the total demise of the station in the summer of 2008. Such a shame. It was one of the most interesting and enjoyable times of my life. So in June 2008 I moved to Beijing, capital of the Peoples' Republic of China, not really knowing what to expect, and with the Olympic Games just a few weeks away. So much has happened in the intevening time. There's neither the time nor the space to write it all down here, so the details will have to wait. But I can tell you that China is probably nothing like you imagine it to be. I am constantly surprised at how ill-informed I was about this vast country, before coming to live here.