Retired anthropologist and diplomat, responsible and resourceful, loves dogs and cats, hoping to continue discovering new experiences by looking after your house and pets

About this sitter

I am an anthropologist who has lived and worked for four decades in the Amazon with Indigenous and traditional communities. I was also a UN diplomat working on international environmental negotiations and an academic. Now retired, I live in Oxford, do translating and am writing a book.
I am responsible, organised and practical. Having lived and worked in remote places under difficult conditions, I am not easily fazed by unexpected turns of event. Having been a careful tenant on three continents and homeowner in the UK, I know how to treat homes well.
I enjoy being with domestic animals. I returned to the UK with our two dogs and a cat. The dogs are sadly no longer with us and cat is elderly and happy to stay in Oxford, so would not accompany me to any house sitting.
I am bilingual in English and Brazilian Portuguese, have good Spanish, lousy French and am learning Welsh.
Ideal house sits would be extended house sits in rural settings where, as well as looking after your house and animals, I could focus on my writing; or shorter term sits in places I have never been to.

Why they want to house sit

I have spent a lifetime travelling, experiencing and trying to understand new places and cultures. Now retired, I am finding it difficult to remain in one fixed place and think house sitting would be an excellent way of continuing to collect new experiences.

Their experience

Nor as a house sitter, although I have occasionally looked after the houses of friends and family.
Having travelled extensively to countries on all continents and lived in the UK, Brazil, Canada, Portugal and Switzerland, I am not fazed by much and am used to dealing with the unexpected in differing cultural contexts.

What can they bring to the assignment

A mature, responsible and proactive attitude to looking after your home and animals. Used to living with dogs and cats. Open-minded, good natured and curiousity towrds places and cultures.