[ While he may not be happy to talk about the darker parts of his past, steeped in misery and loss, this is a snippet of his life that he's all to happy to dive into, a spark of enthusiasm creeping into his voice. ]

I did. I was actually stepping in to fill in for a friend initially, but teaching itself was more enjoyable than I thought it'd be.

[ Maybe it'd because it's a route close to what his father had done - something deeply rooted in learning and sharing - or maybe it'd been because seeing a herd of bright youthful faces every day had been a good reminder of all the things he'd liked about the world, a reminder of all the things he'd spent his life fighting for. ]

Not that it wasn't challenging in its own way, of course. Children are a rowdy bunch and young adults even more so. I may as well have been herding dogs trying to keep their attention on the lesson rather than elsewhere.