I dodged a bullet (not quite literally) in Venezuela. I spent a year teaching there 20-odd years ago and loved the place. European and US colleagues who had been there for 10, 20 years or more were happily settled, had a great life.

I was tempted to make the move permanent. Then things began very slowly to swirl around the plughole. We had a teachers' strike at the university where I was working. Followed by a students' strike. Followed by a bus drivers' strike so no one could get to the campus anyway.

On one forlorn walk in to see if there was anyone to teach, protesters were hurling rocks at passing trucks (I think there was supposed to be a hauliers' strike, but some were strikebreaking). One bounced off at high speed and whizzed past my head. So I did literally dodge a rock.

I kind of revised my ideas about sticking around in Venzuela at that point.

Such a crying shame. Such a beautiful, bountiful country gone to waste.