Two years and three months ago we left home. Two years and three months, and we’ve spent most of this time together. I mean, obvs, there’s been the odd occasion where we’ve parted ways. Like for instance, when I spent four months farming and Lyvette went to visit family in Perth. Or when Lyvette spent two months extra in Sydney sorting her achilles out whilst I headed to Auckland. But those times were different. Different because they were temporary. Different because we knew we’d be back together again soon. Different because we never really anticipated a time when there would be no ‘we’.

And then I left Auckland. And Lyvette stayed. It was like a break up. Except there was no love loss or hard feelings. There were just two small mancunians going separate ways for an unforeseeable period of time. But it still hurt and it was still upsetting, because we’ve journeyed so far together and been on this rollercoaster of an adventure together, side by side, for the last two and a bit years. We’ve trundled across middle earth together (technically it was just to Asia, Australasia and then Hobbiton but same same). We’ve laughed, cried, swore, flapped, dressed, slept and shit together. For the last two months we’ve shared a bed. We’ve spent hours in each other’s company in silence. We’ve spent hours in each other’s company not being able to shut the f**k up. We’ve delved into extreme high and lows together.
But more importantly, unlike numerous other travelling companions, we left home together and we’ve stayed together. For two years. No fights, dramatic busts ups and broken friendships. No horror stories about the best friends that ended up falling out and hating each other. Instead fairy tales about the best friends that had a ball and vomited on snakes, fell down toilets and lost toenails together. More importantly we could carry on together for another two years, and maybe we will, but at the moment life says we both have different things that we need to do. Lyvette needed to stay and earn in Auckland, especially after the set back with her achilles. I needed to experience the snowy mountains and be elsewhere.

I needed to leave while she needed to stay.

Before I left we thought it only correct to visit Hobbiton together so we went with my Yorkshire farm friend James. The Shire was great. Except you can’t actually enter the hobbit holes, they’re just front doors (so if you’re planning a visit just bear this in mind). And the hobbits were bigger than us (just joking – we were the only hobbits in the vicinity). Our guide found it quite comical when she announced to our tour group that there would be opportunity for Hobbit fancy dress in The Green Dragon pub and myself and Lyvette responded with great woops of delight, fist pumps and even a jump in the air (not for Lyvette – her achilles kept her grounded). The kids in the group looked at us in disgust. The adults in the group looked at us in disbelief. And the tour guide of the group looked at us in amazement. We didn’t care, we were too busy running (hobbling) towards The Green Dragon in search of hobbit fancy dress…

Naturally, as is tradition before embarking on a journey we decided to have a few drinks the night before I left Auckland. We went to a BYO Indian restaurant (yes we still miss India) and consumed reasonably large quantities of wine. I had to leave at 2.30am the following morning to get to the airport to head to Fiji for a holiday before Queenstown, and naturally we decided that it would be great bants not to sleep. Instead we would entertain ourselves by unpacking my ridiculously full backpack and throwing random belongings out. Well, Lyvette decided she would entertain herself by throwing my belongings out. The girl who hoards everything of her own. I just sat and laughed. Who needs clothes? Or shoes? I wasn’t laughing the next day when a more sober me arrived in Fiji with missing shoes, half a bikini and a pillow case instead of a sarong.

So now the Two Small Mancunians are in different cities in the same country. And we’re not entirely sure when we’ll be back together and what happens next. But what I have realised is I that I refer to ‘we’ quite a lot.
“Oh yeah, when ‘we’ got our Indian haircuts and looked like we’d just stepped out of Wayne’s World.”
“When ‘we’ ventured to Malaysia and hurdled dinosaurs.”
“When ‘we’ learnt to surf in nappy infested waters in Bali.”
And then people ask me; “Who’s we? You and your boyfriend?” to which I respond with a look of horror and say “Goodness no! ‘We’ is myself and Lyvette – my friend who I’m travelling with!” (That’s a bit of lie – the word ‘goodness’ isn’t really part of my vocabulary, but you get the gist).

Because ‘we’ is still Heather and Lyvette. ‘We’ are the Two Small Mancunians. ‘We’ are the two friends who set off on this adventure together. And although we are on a brief hiatus ‘we’ will not cease, it will still be ‘we’ until this adventure comes to end. And that is not quite yet.

Because although we are not currently together this adventure still has life left in it yet.

And ‘we’ are both very much on board.