During daylight hours, my alter ego can be seen looking down from a church in the town of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

He entered my life on a postcard in the early 2000s and spent several years pinned above my desk, from which vantage point he silently but eloquently communicated his opinion of my approach to work.

Prolonged physical proximity, combined with the uncanny similarity of our looks, our taste in hats and our response to the world before us, led to our identities getting a little blurred at the edges.

Then, one day, in a hurry and in need of a passport-style photo to use as an avatar on the Beacon RCC message board, I slapped the postcard on the scanner.  Who was going to know that I hadn't popped into a photo booth at Boots?

If at the outset anyone used to be able to tell which of us was which, I'm quite sure that the years of association between name and face have rendered us pretty much indistinguishable in most people's minds.  Certainly in mine.

Having grown to accept the permanence of our union, I legitimised the relationship by acquiring the right to use David Cannings-Bushell's photo from iStockphoto.com.

George Barker
Spring 2011