Month One, Day Fourteen

Since we got here, we've walked about ten miles a day. I never used to be a walker. In fact, I never used to leave the house if I could help it. I have, however, always liked the countryside, though more as something to be looked at and admired from behind a window, than as something to get deeply and messily involved in.

Jack changed that. He is a walker extraordinaire. He's also a wildlife enthusiast, and will sit for hours in the cold entranced by buzzards or red kites or even, sometimes, plain old blue tits. On top of this, he is a fantastic amateur photographer and has files of everything ranging from leopards with their jaws clenched round the arses of an impalas (very impressive) to beetles mating (less impressive) to fat slugs feasting on a rabbit carcass (plain revolting).

The conversion happened almost imperceptibly. One day, he said to me, 'Would you like to go for a walk?' and instead of saying what I was thinking (which was, 'I'd rather sit down, thanks, and maybe drink some beer'), I said, 'Ok.' And then I had to find appropriate footwear. Well, appropriate everything wear, if I'm honest.

Then suddenly, six months later I found myself hiking, make-up-less, across Dartmoor in the snow, complete with OS map, compass, walking stick, hat, pac-a-mac and khaki pants. I looked down at myself. He had changed me. I was no longer a city girl at heart.

Which is the background to the following dialogue:

My grandma rang my mobile this evening. I am devoted to my grandma, and will overlook habits in her that I wouldn't tolerate in other people, like, for instance, phoning me in a non-emergency situation when I'm holiday.

'Are you having a lovely time, darling?' she asked.

'Yes, thanks. It's gorgeous.'

'And has Jack taken you out walking?'

'Yes, of course.'

'And what's the weather like?'

'Really sunny and . . .'

'Oh!' she said excitedly. 'Oh, that is good news. It means you'll get your baby.'

'Sorry?'

'Darling, I have always said, the best way to fall pregant is to go for a walk in the sun.'

I didn't tell her how times have changed.