"Hungry for Success" by English Professionals. EPISODE 7 : All the Comforts of Home

Tim returns home after an eventful day - unfortunately, for him, home is not exactly a relaxing place

Transcript

Hungry for success 

by English Professionals

7. All the comforts of home

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

Tim and his wife, Rebecca, to a casual observer,  represented everything a successful couple should be. Tim had a good steady job. Rebecca worked as a lawyer, running her own small but flourishing practice. Their house was more than respectable - a medium-sized semi-detached mock-Tudor in a prosperous part of town. . No kids yet … but there was plenty of time for that. So much for appearances.

As Tim drove home from Lightning Systems, his head was still spinning with the events of the day. In previous years he would have phoned to tell Rebecca the news. When they first got together, they would talk several times a day. As the years progressed this had gradually diminished until now they rarely spoke during the day - or during the evening for that matter (unless you count their all too frequent arguments). Now, only occasionally a quick text from Rebecca - don’t forget to buy some milk etc.  

Momentarily the thought flashed into Tim’s mind that perhaps he should call Rebecca. If he was honest with himself he might have noticed that deep down inside he actually wanted to share the news with her. More significantly, he wanted to hear her opinion… her advice. However, not being known for self-honesty, Tim instead focused on his desire to show his wife that he was not a loser. Pushing to the back of his mind any dissenting thoughts, he started to consider how he might introduce the subject.

“Guess which loser is going to work for Macrosoft?” - too obvious

“I’ve been working on a big project” - not obvious enough

Not being able to decide on a suitable approach, Tim decided to play it by ear.

He pulled into the driveway. For a moment he remained in his seat - engine still running. Unfortunately he didn’t have a great desire to go inside. After a minute or two, reluctantly he switched off the ignition and climbed out of the car. There was no exterior sign of life at the house. A distant memory of Rebecca standing at the window waving and smiling unwantedly popped into his head. Tim felt a moment of sadness as one more part of his dreams lightly dissipated into dust.

Brushing aside such negative feelings, Tim opened the front door and stepped resolutely inside - he tried to adopt the countenance of a successful businessman. Unfortunately no audience was present to see it.  The house was deserted. Tim felt deflated. 

As he sat alone in the kitchen eating a plate of warmed up leftovers Tim noticed that he had an unread whatsapp message on his mobile. Since leaving work he hadn’t looked at his phone and, opening the app, he saw a message from Rebecca. 

“Working late. Don’t wait up”

Short and to the point. Probably better this way he thought sadly. He didn’t feel up to yet another argument. What had they argued about over the weekend?  He couldn’t even remember now. 

A few hours later Rebecca arrived home. She saw Tim slumped asleep on the sofa in front of the TV. She looked at him for a few minutes without moving and then sighed. She too felt one more of her dreams turn to dust.

.

COMMENTARY

Tim and Rebecca appear to other people, to have a good comfortable lifestyle. Their house is semi-detached which means it shares one wall with the house next door. It’s style is Mock-Tudor. This means, in appearance it is designed to look superficially like houses built during the Tudor period in England (according to Wikipedia - my history is not very good - this period dates from 1485 to 1603). “So much for appearances” is slightly sarcastic and it implies that appearances do not reflect the reality of the situation.

Tim feels like his head is spinning because he is constantly thinking about the events of the day. He is unable to think about anything else and feels worried and confused. Tim also has mixed feelings about sharing the news with his wife. On one hand he misses the early years of their relationship when they talked several times a day. He valued Rebecca’s advice. On the other hand he wants to impress her with the new opportunities opening up for him. Not being able to decide how to start the conversation, he decides to play it by ear. It you play something by ear, it means you don’t plan what to do in advance, you simply act and react to the circumstances which you find, relying on your own judgements and instincts as to what to do or say.

Tim had many dreams about his future career when he was younger. Obviously these dreams also included his personal life - and particular his relationship with Rebecca, his wife. Not seeing Rebecca at home had the effect of eradicating more of his dreams - as if they turned to dust. Since his wife is not at home, there is also nobody to see Tim’s impression of a successful businessman when he enters. Hence he feels deflated or let down - his initial confidence and enthusiasm to impress Rebecca, now turned to sadness and disappointment. If a ball deflates it means that the air inside escapes and the ball as a result shrinks and becomes just a misshapen piece of fabric on the floor. You can therefore see the effect on someone who feels deflated. 

Leftovers are exactly what they sound like - parts of the previous day’s meal not eaten and therefore left over for the next day. Tim makes them hot again - presumably in a microwave after removing them cold from the fridge  - hence warmed-up leftovers. It presents a depressing picture - eating yesterday’s meal, alone in the kitchen. Rebecca tells him on her Whatsapp message not to “wait up”. “Waiting up” means to stay up and not go to bed, until somebody arrives.  Clearly he is not even going to see or speak to his wife that evening. 

Rebecca also has dreams - when she finally arrives home, the sight of Tim who has obviously fallen asleep in front of the TV, doesn’t fit with how she imagined her life would be.

Hence some of her dreams also turn to dust.

So we have two people living separate and somewhat unhappy and dissatisfied lives. Tim hopes to somehow improve his marital situation by advancing his career - he sees the Macrosoft takeover as an opportunity for great things. In the next episode we will see that perhaps Macrosoft is not going to solve Tim and Rebecca’s problems - at least not in the way that Tim was expecting.

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