Guess what, if you work hard, in twenty years’ time you’ll be leading that life, I’d put my head down right now and get to it. It’s impossible, though. It could never happen. People talk about “ladders” and “career structures” and “rising through the ranks,” but I can’t see any ladder leading me to Demeter’s life, however hard I work. I mean, two million pounds for a house? Two million? I worked it out once. Just suppose a bank ever lent me that kind of money—which they wouldn’t—on my current salary, it would take me 193.4 years to pay it off (and, you know, live). When that number appeared on
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