In Times Which Seem Like Self-Psychotherapy He Says To Himself:
Oh, Vienna
Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 40, Extract 2
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Instead I use tricks; diverse tools and techniques which I learnt in school, in university, and on the MBA at Cranfield. I play games, with my own mind, to keep pushing projects forward. I am good at this with work, I have had success with work by using and demonstrating these methods, yet somehow I seem unable to bring these constructs into my private life. I convince myself that my private life has to be for real; it is to be free from fraud and trickery, it is to be based on finding the natural me, then letting that natural me have as much free rein as possible.
I shower, I shave, I dress smartly for my date with Farica. I feel good, I feel alive, I am waiting, I am longing, I wear the Kashmir Musk Eau de Parfum. We have a drink in the bar, Farica is totally elegant in a slimline, crimson-red and indigo-blue item, an interwoven dress, which gently shimmers under the crystal lights. Her smile radiates happiness, and fun; the night is yet young but already I have reached a state of elation, already I have become over emotional.
We hold hands as we sit at our table, cocktails at the ready; it is true that I do sometimes hanker after the simple life but, boy oh boy, do I also not just love sophistication, and tonight Farica looks mighty sophisticated indeed I have to say; no, let’s change that phrase into I choose to say that Farica looks mighty sophisticated.
The play is a big success, there are several bows taken, to strong applause; Farica thanks me for bringing her here tonight, then she asks; where next. I ask would she like to go to a café-bar, or to a club, or back to one of our apartments; she says that she would like to invite me to her apartment, it is only ten minutes walk away.
