On how things can turn around

The London Diary: No. 3

“Life changes fast.
Life changes in the instant.
You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends."
— Joan Didion

Where: London
When: A smattering of days across September and October

A friend I haven’t seen for a few years is passing through London and I invite him over to my ramshackle sharehouse for soup and a tour of the neighbourhood. We head out for a walk just as it starts to rain, but decide to head towards the Hackney Marshes anyway. 

Under the hoods of our respective raincoats, we talk about how things turn around all the time. You don’t hear from someone for years and then their name appears in your inbox. You don’t make any traction with a creative project and then an opportunity appears seemingly from nowhere. You don’t have any luck in love and then you meet someone on a plane who turns out to be your next great partner. You can sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends—a loss, a shock, an irreversible decision. Another time, you sit down to dinner and a new life begins. 

“Why are we always so surprised by surprises?” my friend asks, walking in the rain without an umbrella.