You Are Here

by David Nicholls

reeled with mock indignation.

‘Can I ask – and I’m not interested – but can I ask, why didn’t you think I’d get on with Michael?’ ‘Um, well, he can be quite serious, reserved.’ ‘I can be serious. I can talk to reserved people.’

‘I don’t know, I thought you might like someone a bit more London, more outgoing, I thought it would do you good to have fun for a change.’

‘I can be outdoorsy! Christ, just because I can’t name trees. I can name trees by the way.’

‘You can tell if it’s a tree.’ ‘More than that! And we can talk. We actually get along quite well. He’s funny, isn’t he? He has a sense of humour?’

‘Great. Well, go for it! Dive in!’

Deep sleep. He had forgotten what a wild pleasure it was, and he found himself in high spirits, alone in the vast breakfast room.

it was all so wholesome and old-fashioned that he might have carried it in a spotted handkerchief at the end of a stick.

more if the weather brightened and he decided to take the high route.

the becks and waterfalls still flowing with the force of yesterday’s rain,

he had to stop frequently to clamber across the gills that crossed his path, plotting a route on slippery boulders and submerged stones, finding the momentum to sw...

Lining Crag,

This was better, wasn’t it? In the presence of others, he’d been too concerned with their welfare and happiness, what to say and how to be. Now he could return to the original project, the thinking-through, the walking-off.

he felt a certain trepidation.

‘Hm. Well, at some point you’re going to have to let someone in.’

then he was only twenty-four years into his adult life,

numerology,

he tricked himself into tempo...

Grasmere ...

he recognised the stance, doubled over

as if she’d pulled off some terrific practical joke.

the air misty and muffled

water dripping and spattering, everything reeking of petrichor,

felt sacrilegious,

make her twist her head to look at some side-blown tree or unusual rock, and she felt a sense of self-...

screen-grabbed

Seventeen miles seemed a lot even on flat ground, three thumbs at least, but wouldn’t it be funny to beat Michael to it, to be waiting in the hotel bar in Patterdale?

Eas...

Eagle’s...

stashed

Inevitably the self-satisfaction couldn’t last.

treacherous,

The battery on her phone was draining

Mountain Rescue

at the top of the...

a witty greeting

was going to jump out on you,

‘Yes, couldn’t face it. And it’s against my religion to let a hotel room go to waste. But I don’t want to disturb you, if you’re communing with nature.’

There was a momentary scuffle

miming

‘How was it, walking by yourself?’ ‘Takes some getting used to. I mean, if I walk alone in London I usually have my keys bunched in my hand but here, well, you’re still a little nervy but at least you’d hear them coming. Except I was listening to podcasts.

Helvellyn?’

‘I think you should do whateve...

‘I mean, I like nature, but there’s a lot of it. I bet even William Wordsworth, every now and then, t...

chaffinches and the beavers and the...

pagea...

He laughed again and she realised how much she enjoyed...

sati...

syphilis.’

laudanum.’