Draining are the moments in life when you know not what the future holds. When you know nothing of the crucials, like where you are going to live or where you are going to work or who you are going to meet. In moments like that – or, indeed, months – you learn to live with an acutely heightened awareness of fate. And fate can be prickly thing; control, an abstract. And then, of course, things start dipping into place. Some stay in place, some don’t – but something is better than nothing (and as the erstwhile holder of nothing you are in no position to complain). You would like to say these are the fates aligning – but that would be one part surrender and another part crass. You snatch a glimpse of the future and suddenly you breathe again (only just aware that you had been holding your breath). A little knowledge of the future takes the edges off, at last.
