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I can neatly divide up some aspects of my childhood: "before Hong Kong" is up to the age of eight; "in Hong Kong" is eight to twelve; and "after Hong Kong" is, well, you can work it out.

Musically, what I remember listening to before we went to Hong Kong are the tapes my day played in the car. These were mostly 'Best Of' collections, and I particularly remember the Beach Boys ('20 Golden Greats'!), and Simon and Garfunkel.

Once we were in Hong Kong, I started my own musical collection, buying bootleg cassettes from places like the Poor Man's Nightclub, which was a market that was open in the evenings. Amongst my purchases, I also had a couple of 'Best Of' tapes, although mine were Abba and The Beatles (my dad was more of a Stones fan). I also had a rather precocious passion for Johnny Cash, which has never quite gone away.

When I had the house to myself, I would play my tapes on the stereo in the living room and pretend I was performing. Because I couldn't actually play anything, when I tired of miming the guitar or piano, I would play a made up instrument that consisted of a grid of multi-coloured square buttons, each one triggering a different sound or sequence.

Now, I don't believe that anyone can see the future, so I'm not claiming that I was displaying any precognitive abilities here. But someone else did have the same idea and also did the part difficult part of any invention, which was designing it and building it :-)

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Reading: 'Mayflies' Andrew O'Hagan