said Roger, “I suppose I’d better shift.” He had to catch a bus to the railway station. “Otherwise Dad will be back and I could just as well have gone with him and Polly.” He’d meant to get it over with quickly, this chore of seeing to his ticket, and then return in time to do some studying before tea. Once tea was over, it would be television, bath-time, bed. He had to be up in the morning by half-past-five. “Anyway, it’s good to see you take life easy,” said his mother. She too was relaxing: working on the embroidery pattern she’d bought two years before in London. “I mean, doing nothing, not even watching the wretched box.” (By this time he’d cast aside the Sunday supplement.) She herself watched television—quite a lot, indeed—but she felt irritated by the fact. For her, it symbolized vicarious living, empathy with those residing in trouble spots as well as anywhere else, whilst Ephraim chiefly wanted to watch old movies, which he regarded as a much-needed form of escape.
