Pulse

slowing down.’
    ‘Does the blood slow down? Just out of interest.’
    ‘If it doesn’t, it ought to.’
    ‘Another thing we don’t know.’
    ‘If it doesn’t, it’s still a metaphor and, as such, true.’
    ‘If only global warming were a metaphor.’
    ‘Slow movements are more moving. That’s what it’s about. The others have noise, excitement, initiation, conclusion. Slow movements are pure emotion. Elegiac, a sense of time passing, inevitable loss – that’s slow movements for you.’
    ‘Does Phil know what he’s talking about?’
    ‘I always know what I’m talking about at this time of night.’
    ‘But why should we be more moved now? Are our emotions deeper?’
    ‘Back then you were exhilarated and excited by the fast movements.’
    ‘Are you saying that the pool of emotions remains the same size, but pours out in different directions at different times?’
    ‘I might be saying that.’
    ‘But surely we had our strongest emotions when we were young – falling in love, getting married, having children.’
    ‘But now perhaps we have longer emotions.’
    ‘Or our strongest emotions are of a different kind now – loss, regret, a sense of things ending.’
    ‘Don’t be so gloomy. Wait till you have grandchildren. They’ll surprise you.’
    ‘ “All of the pleasure and none of the responsibility.”’
    ‘Not that one again.’
    ‘I did put it in quotes.’
    ‘And a sense of life’s continuance that I didn’t get so much with my own children.’
    ‘That’s because your grandchildren haven’t disappointed you yet.’
    ‘Oh, don’t say that.’
    ‘OK, I didn’t say that.’
    ‘So do we think there’s any hope for the planet? Given global warming, a failure to identify true self-interest, and the politicians being as young as policemen?’
    ‘The human race has got itself out of scrapes before.’
    ‘And the young are more idealistic than we were. Or at least are.’
    ‘And Galileo is still winning against the Pope. That’s a kind of metaphor.’
    ‘And I still haven’t got bum cancer. That’s a kind of fact.’
    ‘Dick, something to finally tip the balance. The world is now a positive place to live in.’
    ‘We’re all going to be just a bit warmer.’
    ‘And who’ll miss the Netherlands? As long as they move the Rembrandts to higher ground.’
    ‘And a lot poorer because the bankers have stolen our money.’
    ‘And we’ll all have to become vegetarians because meat production adds to global warming.’
    ‘And we shan’t be able to travel as much, except on foot or on horse.’
    ‘“Shanks’s pony” – people will start saying that again.’
    ‘You know, I’ve always envied those times when even people who could afford to travel abroad did so only once in their lifetime. Not to mention the poor pilgrim with his stick and his scallop-shell badge making the one pilgrimage of his entire life.’
    ‘You’re forgetting we’re on the side of Galileo around this table.’
    ‘Then you can go on a pilgrimage to see his telescope in Florence or wherever they keep it. Unless the Pope burnt it.’
    ‘And we’ll go back to growing more of our own food, which will be healthier.’
    ‘And repairing things like we used to.’
    ‘And making our own entertainment, and holding realconversations over family meals, and showing proper respect to Grandma in the corner knitting socks for the new arrival and telling us tales of olden times.’
    ‘We don’t want to go that far.’
    ‘Good, as long as we can still watch telly, and nuclear families are optional.’
    ‘What about using barter instead of money?’
    ‘At least that would screw the bankers.’
    ‘Don’t count on it. They’d soon find a way to make themselves indispensable. There’ll be a futures market in rainfall or sunshine or whatever.’
    ‘There already is, my friend.’
    ‘Remember how they used to say, “The poor are always with us”?’
    ‘So?’
    ‘Well, it ought to have been “The rich are always with us”, “The bankers are always with us”.’
    ‘I’ve just realised why it’s called the nuclear family.’
    ‘Because it’s fissile and always likely to explode and irradiate people.’
    ‘But I was going to say that.’
    ‘Too late.’
    ‘Hmm, the smell of that apple wood …’
    ‘Question: which of our five senses could we most easily do without?’
    ‘Too late for guessing games.’
    ‘We’ll answer that next time.’
    ‘Talking of which …’
    ‘Lovely