Status Updates From Ordinary Thunderstorms

"But his mildly inebriated, self-indulgent love-fest was spoilt by a small, insistent, keening voice at the back of his mind, like the buzzing of a fly or the thin siren-whine of a mosquito. Everything might have gone well today but there was still another problem: what was he going to do about Vincent Turpin?

"He was surfing the tide of experience, as he put it to himself, free-floating on the turbulent river of events that was carrying him along."

"He’s not stupid: he doesn’t do anything, so there’s no trail. No cheques, no bills, no references, no mobile phone calls–only payphones–no credit cards, only cash–nothing. That’s how you disappear in the twenty-first century–you just refuse to take part in it."

"When you have nothing, Adam thought, then everything, the tiniest thing, becomes a problem."

"All Adam felt was a massive blow to his back–as if he’d been hit by a sledgehammer or a silent car–dropping him to his hands and knees, and then, almost immediately, another blow, to his head this time, provoking a spiralling supernova of light. And then everything went black."😮