”When I returned to London, my local Turkish newsagent gave me a fur pom-pom key ring. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so I attached it to my handbag. There is something very uplifting about a pom-pom. I went for a walk in Hyde Park with a male colleague and it bounced around in a light-hearted manner as we kicked our way through the autumn leaves. It was a free spirit, madly joyful, part animal, part something else. It was so much happier than I was.”

© 2018 Deborah Levy, The cost of living.