‘I’m doing my best,’ he says.
‘Maybe you should talk to someone.’
‘Jo,’ he shakes his head, ‘come on.’
‘I think you’re depressed,’ I say.
‘This is my problem, I’ll deal with it how-’
‘But you’re not,’ I say, more loudly than I mean to. ‘You’re getting worse. Everything’s a problem. You shout at the kids, you freeze me out.’
He glares at me but I don’t look away.
‘Maybe we need a break, a weekend away. Or you have a get-together with the lads, go cycling, have a laugh. Go to that cottage in Cork.’
‘What – just spend the redundancy?’ he says.
‘Well, a couple of hundred quid isn’t going to make much difference.’
He snorts, like I said something stupid.
‘You suggest something, then.’
‘I suggest you just-’ He breaks off. I’m relieved: whatever he was about to say wasn’t going to be pleasant.
‘Nick?’
He turns away. ‘I just need some time.’
‘It’s been six weeks,’ I say. ‘It’s not your fault but you’re punishing yourself and the rest of us.’
‘Don’t talk crap,’ he says.
‘Everything is so miserable. The atmosphere-’
‘Yes,’ he says hotly, ‘it’s called real life. And having you on my back really isn’t helping.’
Stung and defeated, I pick up my wine and leave him to it. But I won’t give up because we can’t go on like this, not indefinitely. It’s bloody horrible.
Lori in the Ori-ent
Weather
Posted on 2 April 2014 by Lori
I’m used to rain, coming from Manchester (rainy city). Sometimes we get several seasons in a day. England has a north-south and east-west split in climate. For the north-west we have the weather coming in from the Atlantic rising up over the Pennines. It’s wet and cloudy while the other side of the hills to the east is drier and sunnier. The south is warmer than the north almost always, and that means Manchester (NW) and London (SE) never share the same forecast. So rain I can do. Changeability I can deal with.
But endless, interminable cloud. Chengdu is known as the city where the sun never shines. Great bumper sticker. Mugs, anyone? Tea towels? It’s in the Sichuan basin surrounded by mountains. This traps the cloud. Swampy best describes the summer I am told. Today it is just sticky. Sticky and airless. The cloud seals in the heat and the pollution. Imagine using a wallpaper steamer on a very old doormat in a confined space. That smell. What’s not to like? The humidity is about a million per cent. Perfect for mosquitoes. So I am sticky and itchy and STILL having an amazing time. Lxxx
