Trafika Europe 9/10 - UK in Europe

Adam Thorpe

and slapping against the air whenever they hit a tunnel, so loud it is almost painful because the window near them is stuck half open and the heating is on too high so nobody has tried to close it. Jasper glances down at the girl in front as he passes, giving her a little grin. That’s because she is jigging around to her music. Eminem, probably. M.I.A. Young bad girls do it well. Tetra Packs are dead cool for making stuff out of but when she tried a 3-D installation like a surreal high-rise city it was mingy primary-school naff and the tutors said, ‘Suzie, is this ironic?’ She nodded vaguely because she wasn’t actually sure. ‘Like, the process was really important, getting people

herself as a counsellor, sat on trusts and stuff, never had time to be lonely. She found Jazz’s description annoying. Superior. Hoity-toity. Suddenly, he’s squeezing past her knees. ‘Where are you going?’ ‘To jump off and make a snowman.’ ‘Wrong type of snow,’ she jokes. He’s already swaying down the aisle, his lovely buns sashaying really conspicuously in those skinny jeans into which she does seriously wonder how he crams in all his tackle: maybe it’s like folding a Tetra Pack carton for the recycling bin. He has to steady himself on the seat-backs because the train is hurtling along again at top speed, rocking

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