Ripley is dead and waiting to be taken apart and sold, Lain is now hibernating, and Dalloway sleeps deeply every night like any good Mac; as a result, there was no noise in the room and I was awakened by my stepfather emptying the dishwasher at nine in the morning and couldn’t manage to get back to sleep.

Let’s try and use this opportunity to change my rhythm a bit and be ready to get up in the morning all next week — which should be devoted, if all still goes well, to looking for an apartment in Paris (even though I have really reached the point where I’m completely demotivated and willing to keep stagnating dully in Smallville for another five years).