composer doesn't require PHP 5.3 namespaces.
You got me wrong. I know that you can use composer with packages, that aren't using PHP 5.3 and namespaces. What I ment is the requirement to run composer. This requirement is 'PHP 5.3.2 or above' ( https://github.com/composer/composer#requirements )
Anyhow — I made good progress over the weekend. Hoping to publish something by Wednesday.
Dominic