No, I never said it was easy - being with her. It was just different, and more like living than my real life – my old life – had ever been.

I think on some level I always thought my life was going to be more normal than this - not that I would change it. I couldn’t leave her any more than I could stop breathing – she needs me, see? Needs someone sane along for the ride to tell her, 'you need to stop'.

I can see why you think she's mad...truth is she isn't really all there, but it's not like she should be committed. You know, I think that would kill her, to be trapped like that. And it's not like she's hurting anyone, she'd never harm a fly - To be honest, when I met her I thought she might have been, you know, a little crazy...now I think she's just a bit wild. And I mean wild in the way animals are; that is, she can't ever settle down, can't ever connect with people as much as she does with her surroundings...I'm lucky, really, that she chose me to share her incredible life with. So lucky...Yes, I think wild is the best way to describe her...undomesticated. And solitary, I guess, since the only contact she has is me...I don't mean to sound big-headed or romantic, it's just the truth. I'm the human half, really... I usually do the talking when civilization calls for it.

What do I mean by civilization? Um, well...for example, we traveled through Africa last year, beautiful country...while we were there, I took care of our passports and all that official nonsense, and walked her by the hand through the cities - she never liked built areas too much. But when we got out into the country - she came alive again, running round and climbing trees and counting stars...Yes, she really did try! And sulked for a while when she couldn't...then something else would catch her eye, and she'd grab my hand, and we'd be off - running again.

Hmm? Oh, yes…quite exotic. We find ourselves in more and more enchanting places – I think she has a fascination with those areas of the world man has yet to touch. Civilized man, at any rate. While we were in Africa, we stayed a while with an Ashanti tribe - remarkable experience...we were treated well, and after a few days I could see that they had accepted her – and all her oddness. The children loved her, playing chase with her and making necklaces to toss about her neck as she ran past. They called her...well, I forget their words for it...they called her 'Anansi's Daughter'. She liked that, and after we had left the tribe she would ask and ask for tales of Anansi the spider. For my part, I talked with the tribes people, telling them about where we had been and showing them photographs of our journey...I think we surprised them, we’ve always looked unusual together; thin gangly man with glasses on a string and plain brown hair and plain brown eyes, walking the world with a flame-haired pixie with the sky in her eyes and no shoes on her feet. Hearing our stories and the way we lived, even these nomadic tribesmen thought us...well, mad.

I have heard that time and time again; it’s not as if I look the part. I think myself quite strange sometimes - don't misunderstand me, I am quite aware that leaving my internship to follow her wasn’t the most practical action: in retrospect, it could be called insane. But it's another thing entirely to think of yourself as strange, even by your own standards...still, I wouldn't change it. I often wonder if so-called ‘normal’ people think this much, if they question themselves so.

Umm, best thing about the trip? You really want to know that, I mean it's not at all interesting....ok, alright then. We were in Wales - I told you it wasn't that interesting - and we were sat at the edge of a field, watching horses graze. Trespassing and sleeping on someone else's land is exhilarating, in a way...and it's not like we harmed anything. But there we were, and I just had one of those rare, intoxicatingly grand moments - the kind that makes people like me travel like this, the kind you spend your whole life chasing. We sat, my back against the field gate and my arms wrapped around her as she lay against my chest, watching the tranquil night roll in. We just sat, occasionally talking, both shivering slightly from the cold and the silence...it was just a moment in time, you know? A single shimmering moment, a diamond in the coal heart of the Valleys…sorry, I do tend to wax poetic on occasion.


Oh, just incredible. Utterly and enchantingly fantastic...really, she is.