Sometimes the hardest thing in life is knowing when to walk away. But Hong Kong-based DJ Ricky Stone made that decision with clarity.
A few months ago the 34-year-old was on one of his jaunts around the world and found himself behind the decks at a club in Los Angeles. Everything was as normal until he looked up from his work and gazed into the crowd.
'I was playing and it suddenly hit me - they were really young,' says Stone, laughing. 'Then I started thinking, 'Do I look old to them?''
It was the realisation of something that had been at the back of Stone's mind for a while. Having spent half his life travelling and playing in clubs, perhaps it was time for something new.
'It's a relief to me, to be honest,' says Stone. 'For the past five years I have been looking out on dance floors and the people have started looking so young. I don't want to be [DJing] when I am 40 or 45. I want to get out of it while I'm still happy doing it, which is now.'
And so an era, of sorts, is coming to an end. Stone will still be based in Hong Kong, but he's having one last night of spinning for the local masses, at Club PP on September 25. He admits there'll be a lot to reflect on; when the Sheffield-raised Stone first arrived on our shores in 2002, the local clubbing scene was still in its infancy.