I sometimes ask people where they were when the human race as a whole looked at the world, shrugged collectively, and went: “Oh sod it all”. Usually I’m met with a fairly uninterested gesture, and an inarticulate opinion. That’s how things are done now. The epidemic of not-giving-a-shit had spread fast. But in the end it didn’t really have that disastrous an effect. Everyone had, on a certain Monday morning, sat down and just gone: Fuck it. Just fuck it. What’s the bloody point? And I could kind of see where they were coming from. What really is the point?

I digress. When the epidemic hit I was on my way to work, sitting on the same crowded tube train as I did every morning, trying desperately not to make eye contact with the slightly scary looking geezer across from me. But that morning something was different. The train pulled into one of the stops a few before mine and I just decided to try something else for once. Instead of going to work, updating some client reports, talking about the footie with Tom by the water cooler, going back to my desk, updating my calendar for an hour while flicking through reddit on my phone, and then finally giving in and browsing the internet while looking over my shoulder, in case Paul, my manager, came around the corner. I decided not to bother with any of that. I got off the train three stops early, went over to the nearest shop, grabbed some breakfast, then wandered around the city for a bit. It’s weird, living in London and taking for granted all of the things that people come in from the world around to see. Generally you don’t even bother to visit. So I lived the day as a tourist in my own city. It was pretty quiet to be honest. I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. In the back of my mind I was dreading the phone call from Paul, where he would ask me in his semi-sarcastic tone where I was, and if, perhaps, I or a close relative had fallen ill, and I would be forced to take the day off. But the call never came. I probably should have noticed that, but I was having far too much fun.