Meet Balenci – the tortie who runs my life, and backs the North all the way

Balenci came into my life thanks to Dan, a workmate who’d spent months making friends with a stray cat in his backyard, until one weekend she turned up with three kittens. Balenci was the tiniest of them, so fuzzy she looked like she’d been zapped by static, and I loved her straight away. Four years on, she’s chatty, cuddly and just a little bit bossy: she talks back when you talk to her, races to your lap the moment you get home, and on wet food nights she rubs against your legs like she’s trying to rub them right off. She’s sat on my lap for every script and campaign plan so far, and when she’s not supervising, she’s on my desk watching the world go by.