Activity

They go out and celebrate with champagne.

‘We got married today!’ And they get special service. They get married in Istanbul, in Casablanca, in Paris, in Munich. The champagne arrives in an ice bucket. In Istanbul they eat lobster with the champagne, by the harbour on the Galata side, with a vie…

From one hotel to another in big cities abroad before the next day’s reconciliation. Perhaps it was necessary at the start, to cleanse, have it all out, get even. Confess in order to mend, repair. Drink to find the courage to tackle the knots, fight their way through them to forgiveness and reconci…

They get up in the early evening. They shower and dress and go outside, they walk closer to each other, even more closely, it really is possible. It’s because we love each other, they say. It’s because we’re so passionate. We’re enthralled by the power of love.

‘I’ve never felt like this about a…

They unpack in the same room. In an old house where Norwegian researchers and students are put up. A window overlooking a courtyard, laundry flapping in the wind, cats on the flagstones. His suitcase in one corner, hers in another. His toiletries on one end of the bathroom shelf, hers on the other.…

Something happens for the first time there, later it will happen frequently and eventually she gets so used to it that she forgets that two people can have more than one nice week together. The dramas, the scenes, the quarrels and the sweet reconciliations. Howling, screaming, breaking things, figh…