The Good Part

by Sophie Cousens

Everything’s walking distance if you have enough time and the right footwear.

Sometimes you need to be guided by your gut and your phone-charging requirements.

I think that’s why I love TV in general. When the world outside doesn’t make sense, TV usually will.”

And once again, my desire to date has been tempered by the depressing reality that is 99 percent of men.

I just want to get to the good part of my life.

“Be careful what you wish for,” the old woman says, and I look up to see her watching me from her seat behind the till. “Life is never quite sorted, whatever stage you’re at.”

“There’s not always a logical explanation. Some things don’t make sense,

“If I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that it’s best to keep an open mind and a closed toilet seat.”

“You didn’t like your old life.” He shrugs. “I’d enjoy the upgrade. If you can’t get off the bus, you might as well enjoy the ride.

I don’t know how to get back, so what else can I do but go out and explore?

If I am being offered a chance to see what my future holds, maybe I should embrace it.

I must be great at employing people, because everyone who works at Badger TV is whip-smart and hilarious.

Maybe in a marriage you just believe each other, no questions asked.

My brain is having a hard enough time catching up on what I’ve missed in my own life, I’m not sure it’s ready to absorb what I’ve missed in the rest of the world. If I open those floodgates I might drown.

But it is my heart, not my brain, that is broken.

Just when I think I understand how everything is different, something else changes.”

‘You have to get up and face the day, because every day is a gift, and you can’t let Tom Hoskyns or anyone else steal a single one from you.’

I’m not going to fix anything by lying here feeling sorry for myself, scrolling through old photos, watching endless Poirot episodes, and lamenting the size of chocolate bars. However I got here, here I am.

If I’m going to learn how to do this, I need to be able to do it on my own.

But now, with the prospect of doing something useful, something inside me notches into gear. I always loved a challenge.

“You sounded like you are about to tell us bad news. I’m not sure I can take any more bad news this week.”

If you’re going to downsize, you do it in your sixties, everyone knows that.

“When you live in an area of outstanding natural beauty, you have an obligation to maintain certain standards,”

“We never do this anymore, just the two of us.”

We’re always so busy, or we’re socializing with friends, making plans, doing admin. We never make time to just chat and tell each other stories. I love your stories. I have always loved the way you tell stories.”