Day Ninety-three - Peeping tom

Some months after I moved to London, I'd say either in January or February 2001, Dora and Ian visited me for a few days - I know it was a short time only, probably no more than three days, but it was a balm that my soul sorely needed. I'll never forget that trip I made to the airport to go and meet them, and I was deathly afraid that by then Ian would have forgotten all around me already, but when I saw them arrive and as I approached them to give them my welcome, I saw his baby face light up and he flashed a great big smile when he saw me. I kissed Dora, and then knelt down to take Ian off his stroller, so that I could hug him close. I had missed his first birthday, and that stung. Together, we went back to where I was living - I never referred to it as 'my place' - and got settled in. As I recall it, I might have had some days off too while they were there, so we spent as much time together as we could. I don't remember much about that short period of time they were there, other than taking Ian to my workplace so they could meet my kid, and maybe a couple of intimate moments of bad sex between me and Dora. But the seed had been planted : London, however much I loved it, was not where my heart was. I needed to go back home, to be with Dora and Ian. The only thing left to do was wrap up my stay there : first I had to put aside money for a ticket - I think I might have bought it from the travel agent Carla worked in, possibly with some employee discount. I can't remember now whether I actually quit my job or if I ghosted them and just stopped going as soon as I got my ticket. Pretty much everything I had taken with me was already packed, I just jept on adding to it with DVDs, comics and records. Nothing really kept me there, not even my love for the city. What good was it to me, if I was unhappy all the time? Home was where I wanted to be. Home was where I needed to be. And my return home began that final stretch of my relationship with Dora.

I came back and was welcomed by my mother and my sister - no Dora and Ian, I suppose she might've been working that day. I went home, and everything was as it had been. I now found myself jobless, broke, and with no real perspectives in sight. I had to look for a job at once, because if I remember it right, her sister was without a job as well. But the two jobs I managed to find that year  - we're talking about 2001 here, and I'm pretty sure both of these jobs came at this point in time - didn't last long. One, lasted half a day, the other lasted all of five minutes.