ery occasionally, I escape to the city. Boarding the train, I watch the North Sea flash by and disappear. I like to stare out of the window and look for deer standing in fields, or the fork of a red kite’s tail silhouetted in the sky. The rough edges of Northumberland become smoother and softer the further south I travel, until the fields are swallowed by buildings. Some people are bemused by the concept of escaping to a city, glancing over my shoulder
