''This bit always makes me feel a little panicky,' Robert says. 'The final minutes of the year ticking away. It's unnerving.'
'You're supposed to think about friends,' Vanessa says.
'I know,' he says, drinking the whiskey back and taking the bottle to pour himself another. 'All the same it feels eerie somehow.'
'Tell me what you've been reading about,' Vanessa says. Robert fits the cork back in the bottle carefully before replying.
'I've been reading about what an unpleasant human being Wordsworth was. That's De Quincey's view anyway. De Quincey really got to dislike Wordsworth.'