more reading

So this is the second transcription I'm uploading for those of you who like to read your conversations as well as listen to them. It's a conversation between Chris and Jacqui called normal people and you can download it here.

As you'll see and hopefully hear as well (if you choose to download and listen to it or click here to listen in iTunes) their life has been anything other than normal in some ways.

This is a conversation between a husband and wife. But it's also a conversation Between Friends, which became the title of the project I premiered at Latitude Festival in the summer of 2009, as part of the Intimate Conversations series. I published the audio shortly afterwards and it's had hundreds of listens since then. Now perhaps it'll have a few reads as well.

For me, reading this conversation as opposed to listening to it, it's impossible for me not to notice how precise both Chris and Jacqui are sometimes in the words they choose.

Sometimes their precision is at the service of simply being accurate. Like when they dispute where and when it was they first kissed.

At other times they're careful to avoid using words that might hurt each other. The tenderness is often in what they choose not to say as much as it is what they do.

And towards the end, there's a little something they do that tells me just how much they love each other.

And it's in the questions they ask each other.

They're specific but never precious.

They're deliberate but never clever.

But perhaps most importantly, beyond the directness and the straight-forward, down to earth candour that's so easy to hear and even to read, what I most enjoy and maybe if I'm honest even envy them for, is their kindness.

So thanks Chris. Thanks Jacqui.

And here's to friendship within marriage.

Happy reading.