Claude Mulindi

One Day thumbnail

One Day

David Nicholls

Follows a relationship as it evolves over twenty years.

Date Read: 2024-12-01
Recommendation: 3/5

Notes:

You feel a little bit lost right now about what to do with your life, a bit rudderless and oarless and aimless but that’s okay that’s alright because we’re all meant to be like that at twenty-four.

These days grief seems like walking on a frozen river; most of the time he feels safe enough, but there is always that danger that he will plunge through.

Now, standing at the railing as the town came into clearer view, she began to understand the point of travel; she had never felt so far away from the launderette, the top deck of the night bus home, Tilly’s box room. It was as if the air was somehow different here; not just how it tasted and smelt, but the element itself. In London the air was something you peered through, like a neglected fish tank. Here everything was bright and sharp, clean and clear.

At twenty-seven, Emma wonders if she’s getting old. She used to pride herself on her refusal to see two sides of an argument, but increasingly she accepts that issues are more ambiguous and complicated than she once thought.

Being a decent human being will require effort and energy.

She was discovering once again that reading and writing were not the same–you couldn’t just soak it up then squeeze it out again.

She wondered if she was doomed to be one of those people who spend their lives trying things.

‘Sometimes you are aware when your great moments are happening, and sometimes they rise from the past. Perhaps it’s the same with people.’ James Salter, Burning the Days

There is a point in the future where even the worst disaster starts to settle into an anecdote, and he can see the potential for a story here.

Emma had always envied those people who spoke their minds, who said what they felt without attention to social nicety.

‘But you’re happy?’ ‘Yeah? I think I am. Are you?’ ‘Happier. Happyish.’ ‘Happyish. Well, happyish isn’t so bad.’ ‘It’s the most we can hope for.’

‘Live each day as if it’s your last’, that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that? What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy? It just wasn’t practical. Better by far to simply try and be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you.

Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance.