After spending the first 4 years of my life in a city hospital, my mother and I moved to a countryside. It was late spring and I thought I had gone to haven: blossoming fruit trees, swaying in the wind white daisies and purple foxgloves, dawn chorus of the song birds and frolicking young farm animals - all were a cause of wonder, as I have never seen them before. I remember feeding squabbling speckled chickens very early in the morning - the sun was a pale yolk in the pink sky and I was able to look at it without being blinded. In the dusk, the May bugs were buzzing around the garden and bumping into the window panes. One June evening, we came across an incredible creature: on an old log a worm was glowing bright green and then changing to a pale aquamarine, as if it was breathing through colour. We put a glowworm in a matchbox and brought it home. That night, I was able to read a few words and faintly see the pictures of an ugly duckling in my favourite book by the light of the bug. The next day, we released it back on its log and I used to visit it every evening and hold long conversations. A few weeks later, it was gone. Even now, 50 odd years later, I still go out into the back garden late at night and look for the lost glowworm. Up in the sky, I can see the twinkling lights of the planes heading for Heathrow, smile at myself for being so childlike and go to bed feeling happy.