Well. Men. Things. Boys. She’s back at a club with Peter and Don in order to have youthful experiences. When if not now, and why are they in London, the metropolis, the heart of the country, if not to waste away their youths in silly ways, to get excited and at the same time to be endlessly disappointed at how boring it is, because nothing matches the impact of one’s own feelings. In that regard, nothing had ever changed about these venues that are always too loud for everyone in order to drown out the embarrassment that accompanies the search for mating partners. Loud, so you don’t smell the cold sweat. Loud, so you don’t think about what you’re doing here. Dance, yeah, well. Of course. Lust for life. But how it all looks, for god’s sake. That awkward self-conscious movement, the self-conscious feeling of being observed. Everyone is afraid of embarrassing smartphone videos landing online, afraid not to be rated well if videos from the club are watched by others. Hannah despises the smartphone morons. No revolutionaries, no solidarity. Just an idiotic mass of supposedly individual young people who all look the same and who hassle anyone who deviates from the current norm. Hardly ever has a minor deviation in hair color or BMI led to such bitter contempt as during this wonderful era when everyone has the feeling of receiving too little. Too little space and recognition, too little money and love. A new narrow-minded generation has developed.

Assholes.

Inside this club it’s like every other club ever. The young people feel superior to old people, they’re immortal, and, of course, they believe they’re the first ones to experience everything. No living being had ever felt the way they feel. Nobody had ever been so wild, had engaged so intensely with oneself and one’s fears of adulthood—that time when everything will be gray and over. Here in the club, everyone has just grown out of childhood. Grown out of total denial, no longer cute but also not yet full of greed and duplicity, not yet calculating, something that will also affect their willingness to couple up. The perception that well-being is dependent on others choosing you. Is not helpful.

Grime is playing. It’s made it into the mainstream. Yet another revolution that’s been sold out.

Many of those present are wearing their bodycam glasses so they can post cool videos of their antics. Hannah is uneasy and young and longs for something but doesn’t know what. She looks at men. Well, okay. Men.