Annie Rhiannon

Monday, March 02, 2009

The Butterfly Zoo

On my last weekend in Wales, Cathy comes back to visit. We've been friends since we were 11 when she saved me from an adolescence of loneliness and misery by inviting me back to her house in the next valley after school. I could help her pick caterpillars out of the garden, she'd said, to keep in the box under her bed that she was turning into a butterfly zoo.

Eighteen years later, Cathy drives too fast and doesn't always watch where she's going. Usually this makes me nervous but today I don't care. I'm feeling light-headed after lunch and I'm happy to ride shotgun through Ffestiniog as the sunlight hits the slate-heaps and turns them purple.

Listen to this, she says, turning up the music. I always think this song is about us.

The woman on the stereo sings about being sixteen; two girls drunk on a bathroom floor together.

Yes, it's about us, I agree, feeling emotional all of a sudden.

Who else could that song possibly have been written about except me and Cathy? I'm glad we're spending my last day here together, in Wales on the first day of March, driving too fast through Snowdonia where we have grown caterpillars and killed butterflies and swung from every lamppost and pissed on every tree.

18 comments:

Rosie said...

*waves to Cathy, who does not drive too fast*

bon voyage, a chroí. see you soon.

Conan Drumm said...

Safe travels once again, Annie.

Linda said...

'I'm happy to ride shotgun through Ffestiniog as the sunlight hits the slate-heaps and turns them purple.'

That must be the coolest description of Blaenau Ffestiniog ever ;)
Pob hwyl i ti Annie....

barefoot gypsy girl said...

Have I told you lately how very much I love your writing. You always put a smile on my face. xo

Le Nord said...

'We have grown catapillars and killed butterflies'.

The sister would like you. She's Lepidopterophobic

Andrew said...

That's beautiful, Annie, you made me teary for some reason. I now wish I'd been a sixteen year-old girl in Snowdonia.

Someday you'll get into a car with me and realise you owe Cathy an apology.

You take care of yourself, Anniekins.

emordino said...

Ffestiniog sounds like some kind of demon. More curmudgeonly than evil. Probably a shopkeeper.

Misssy M said...

I have only one childhood pal left in my life. And bizarrely she's not the one that I thought I'd have. My best teenage friend who i thought I'd know forever took the huff some years back about I don't know what, and now we're not in touch. So sad.

You are lucky to have that touchstone. I'm with your previous commenter. I was a bit teary.

EW said...

What was the song?

Good luck on your travels.

EW

Fiona said...

Happy birthday mrs!

problemchildbride said...

Happy travels, Annie, and happy belated too.

101 Things . . . said...

Pissing on trees? Killing bugs? Passing out on bathroom floors? You two sound like my kind of chicks!

Also, peeing on trees is so much easier for men, which is all the more impressive.

Lois said...

Hi Annie
Round about the same time as all this was happening, Christian and I had an animal cemetary, in the chippings by my Nain's house and in the trees behind Bron Llan. We specialised in birds and frogs mainly, but could have branched out into the butterfly world if only we knew about all the killings!
Hope you're ok, I love the blog. x

Annie said...

hello everybody... sorry, dropped offline there for a while. Thanks for the birthday wishes etc.

Emma: the song was something by this Molly Ventur chick from Texas, I forget the name of it.

s'mae Lois... I think I remember Christian saying something about that alright.

Unnur María said...

I thought the song was gonna be The Knife's "Pass it on" and I was gonna ask if you had ever found out her brother's name... ;)

That song is my all time favorite song. Ok, that song and another 9 ones.

Melys said...

There's nothing quite like driving the roads of Snowdonia. Tanygrisiau and Bleanau at night is a favourite.
I'd always have some Alun Tan Lan at the ready to calm me down.

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