BEST ALL-ROUNDER STAR/PUPIL

“WE HAVE SOUGHT PEACE, AND A DECENT SPOT FROM WHICH TO OBSERVE THE NIGHT SKY”

 I still smoked, I would. Even 15 years past the habit, my fingers still twitch for that little papery cylinder, ghost for the click and sandpaper roll of a brass Zippo. Stress finds comfort in the pathological, and at this point, I am very definitely stressed, and being trolled by my own stupidity. Imagine the scene: having bumbled around for the past couple of days over a decent chunk of Kielder Forest in Northumberland, we have spent the time traversing the logging tracks of Forestry England, marvelling at the beauty of this 250 square miles of working wood. There are deep greens and dappled light. There are moorland vistas and views across Kielder Water that make your eyes happy just to field the ref lection. There are no people around except loggers manhandling gigantic forestry machinery husbanding spruce and Scots pine, and those we give