In October 2012 I was diagnosed with a malignant and aggressive form of prostate cancer and told I would live no longer than three years. A year later, I moved from Utrecht to Edinburgh. Here I received treatment not available in The Netherlands. Another year later, I registered as self employed, trading under the name Omnium Delivery Edinburgh. Still very much alive and ready to use my expertise professionally.My expertise lies primarily in delivering stuff. In practice: from navigating the streets of a specific city, to being able to deliver anything anywhere; from dispatching the delivery of stuff, to working out the best way of doing stuff in general; from keeping a close administration of all that is necessary for delivering stuff, to evaluating strategies that ensure the efficient delivery of stuff into the future; from cooperating with others pragmatically to get a particular job done, to laying down protocols and establishing principles that make possible cooperation towards any purpose; from delivering stuff to delivering a message.At the end of 2018 while delivering in Edinburgh, I experienced the most excruciating pain ever and was rushed to hospital. Spinal cord compression brought about by metastatic growth. For more than six months, I received intensive treatment; firstly radiotherapy, then chemotherapy. So I must now accept a life of semi retirement, although I continue reading philosophy, proofreading and Dutch translation. I am also writing a book based on my blog. When I was younger, I found philosophy in books and wrote stuff out in an effort to understand my life and how it might relate to what I was reading. I always believed life takes precedence; at the same time I learned that my own perceptions can never be innocent. In the serious enthusiasm of youth, I took excursions into Derrida and postmodernism, Wittgenstein and Nietzsche. I gave classes in Foucault and Marx. Growing older I settled into Spinoza, Deleuze and Negri. After cancer's bleak prognosis, I wrote a collection of aphorisms summing up what I thought. Since then, I have read more Tibetan Buddhism and taken several meditation retreats. I see philosophy now as entirely practical, as a kind of mindfulness. I continue to read voraciously at the edges of what is still sometimes called western philosophy, recently inspired by the work of the Invisible Committee, Luce Irigaray and Timothy Morton. Understanding the girth and depth of every moment, mindful that this is all there is. That life is precious, fragile and beautiful.www.duncanspence.blog