I believe that Dante knew what he was talking about when he wrote these words in his masterpiece The Divine Comedy: “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.” Not, perhaps, a happy thought, but insightful when I think of my formative years: A world of great-aunts, large matrons, frightful teachers and disappointed parents climaxing in a pile of uncertainty mixed with a smidgen of misgiving. In other words, a shambolic mess.