I was at JH's place in Sydney, and KA was there. It seemed like the two of them were reversed in their affections for me, with JH distant and dismissive, and KA warm and friendly. We were swimming in J's indoor swimming pool. She noted I had helped with the design, the decision to have a waterfall flow from the centre of the house to the centre of the pool. Otherwise I was, and they were, aware of my uselessness, lots of errors I had made on things that should have been simple.

Swimming in the pool there was talk of babies, I think K introduced me to one of hers in her arms, and asked encouragingly about our attempts. I said we'd only been trying for a few months, I wasn't worried.

As I swam bits of detritus stuck to me. A large glob of bloody mucus was stuck hard to my right big toenail, and I spent a long time trying to rub it away.