Amidst the ancient woodland of Devon — another English county — many weird and wonderful creatures reside: boggarts, fairies, and lots and lots of pixies. Pixies are my favourite! Wikipedia says that pixies are “generally benign, mischievous, short of stature, and attractively childlike.” Pixies are fond of dancing and swishing around; they twist and twirl through the forest all day long. Pixies wear ravishing outfits; their smiles are dazzling, and their laugh is captivating. Fleeting, unattached little creatures, they distract lone travellers and wreak chaos amongst those unaware of their vexatious nature.

Every now and then, when I am lucky to be taken into the depths of English countryside, I feel like I enter a mysterious world where Nature is the Lone Queen. With dappled light streaming through the trees and bouncing off the water, with weird statues and creaky bridges, it is definitely a world of its own where each one of us is only a transient visitor.

That is certainly how I felt when I visited Fingle Bridge in Devon last year. My hair was still a crazy shade of red, my dress was flowing, and my dog was being her usual inquisitive self. A pair of pixies, us… Generally benign, mischievous, and short of stature.  Although I’m not sure about “attractively” — perhaps, they meant to say “annoyingly”?