The weekends

November 2002

I called Maggie after I'd checked in; I knew that by the time I got back to the UK, it would be too late to call her. She was still at work, so her conversation was much more guarded than normal. I didn't like it.

Later, as the driver fought his way through the Friday night traffic heading west on the M4, I sent the following text;

'Landed safe, heading home, feeling sad'

I knew she would like the 'feeling sad', and it let her know that I was safe, something she always liked to know.

After that I needed some time to think. In the last week, I had established a pattern of calling Maggie every night. It was easy enough, when I was in Shanghai. But now I was home, and it was the weekend. How would I find the time to disappear long enough to call her? On weekdays
I could call from the office. There are so many overseas calls anyway, one more a day might not be noticed.

My problem was the weekends.