I Don't Ask for Much - Truth be Told I'd Settle For a Life Less Frightening.

My head is in heaven, my soles are in hell. Let's meet in the purgatory of my hips and get well.

Good grief, what a day. My castles have been stormed by a series of small miracles set in motion by the wand of a fairy who has more substance than a whole army of these words. I've got a collection of thunder that I stole from your window-sill, let's go wake the world up. I can't wait till the day I hold your hand for real. For now, and perhaps forever, the moment is ours alone.

And this is a personal letter to you. This is a thank you note on a napkin, slipped into your hand bag that you'll find after you've removed your make up and put on something warm for bed. Keep it on your bedside table, your drawers, or carve it onto your heart. Whichever you choose, just remember that the words were penned with longevity in mind. Perhaps we'll never figure out the way to make this whole thing work in the real world, but in the spaces we've created for ourselves there is a lifetime of solace to be sipped upon. I've got the tankard, so let's fill it by the brimful and drink it deep. It burns but it is the nectar of a particular god, one who has two interests at heart - yours and mine.

And all of us, winners and grinners, must find somebody like this. Keep them secret, keep them safe, and keep them so close to your inner-most thoughts and feelings that they have no doubt as to who you truly are in there. When the world discovers you, GF, they will think you an overnight sensation, but I'll know better. I'll see the hard yards that you laboured over; the undulating paths that took you down to the depths and up the sheerest cliffs; the chilblains and wind-burn from the harsh conditions you battled through. And I will take no small satisfaction from having been a part of it. The pleasure will have been all mine. There is no way of telling whether, in the end, I'll even make the liner notes in the album of your life. I may only be a fleeting glimpse; a series of blurs, like I never occurred.

But I may also be much more than that.

When we all discover this person for ourselves, we must keep the memories cached. Don't let the leaky sink of sentiment drip, drip, drip them from our minds. Don't let the washers get loose. If the tap of your thoughts has a runny nose, your past will have the 'flu before you've ever had the chance to look back on a healthy life. Don't disregard these metaphors, Jacks and Jackies - they might one day be your saviour. And, yes, I acknowledge they might also be your downfall. If they have the power to be one, they have the power to be both. I don't expect you all to see them in the same light. I know one who will see them clearly, because they are shining beams of torchlight straight across the seas at her. Yoo-hoo, I see you.

Brilliant sunshine and even better conversation today. Swamped in words both serious and silly. Swathed in bandages; pictures without clothes to cover the imperfections; photographs with give-away file names; cracking under pressure. Your assertions that I'm naughty; my denials and your giggles; you've become a puddle of my tears, and vice versa. Struck the jackpot thanks to your ability to see things so much clearer than I do. You know we'll never make it on our own now - we're too far in. A stream of consciousness that burbles over the pebbles of your wisdom, cooling the heat we gave them; building it up and easing it down; giving and taking all the compliments the world was too busy to give either of us. We can fly under the radar - that way if we fall it won't be so far to reach the ground.

And none of us can ever know where we're headed for certain. Make the decisions based on what is right - even if that means making no decisions at all. It seems to be working for the two of us.

If it's all so obvious, why can't we all see it clearly?