I say that the powers came like a “gift from the gods”, but I guess that the founding of these powers were more of a discovery within myself. But they were sudden, not a growing strength within myself.

The first time I realised, I was just playing. One night, I was trying to see (as a teenager does) whether I could, in a single bound, jump onto a grit box down one of Cardiff’s more sinister alleyways. Three tries and three blows to the stomach later, only sheer boredom was keeping my determination. On the fourth – and what was going to be the final – jump, I overstepped the mark and jumped close to twenty feet into the air, landing on the building that signalled the end of the alley.

For ten minutes I stood in shock, leaning over the edge of the building and my own legs, mouth slack.

The reason I say “a gift from the gods” is that as soon as that power had been granted me, I felt in awe of my surroundings, as if God himself had made me grateful for the life I was about to lead.