Nicholas Quirke was left feeling strangely troubled on 3rd September by his visit to Hampstead Theatre to see The Humans; a seemingly comic portrayal of an American Family. His day had been positive and had not prepared him to probe the darkness of the human psyche which he found himself doing on his drive home to Brighton. It was an early start when he was dragged into the day by the sound of his phone, an unexpected call from China. It was good to hear his friend Wei’s voice again, they had not spoken since he had been in Beijing. He was also really please to be reconnected with a friend from his temping days at Alliance and Leicester who had been listening to the Podcast, QUIRKE: A Day in the Year of a Nobody. Simon Smith had been a good friend and there was something reassuring about being remembered despite not being seen for 30 years. This spurred him on to work and then to walk into town to pick up a package from the Post Office. It seemed a good time to try and meet with Rory and he was delighted that he was free. They enjoyed a chat in the sun in Pavilion Gardens Cafe though the nature of their conversation wasn’t the topic for joy. Rory left for the Dentist and Nicholas ambled home discovering a pile of jigsaws that whetted his ‘approaching autumn’ appetite. He spotted Cole in his window and called in for a quick catch up and then watched a flight of stairs being craned into the sky like a stairway to the heavens. He set up a new Facebook Page and Twitter account for his Christmas Project with Peta and Cath, ShowShoppers and readied himself for his theatre trip to London. It was a torturous 3 hours in the car with hold ups everywhere including a terrible crash on the A23 where he witnessed a car sitting atop a motorcycle: Images he didn’t want to have in his mind. He was excited to be back in Hampstead and at their beloved theatre. The play was very funny but at its heart was an unsettling dream landscape against which a family performed acts of emotional self immolation. Humanity tearing itself apart was the ever present theme he explored on his journey home and the nihilistic outcome of the piece drove him to purchase some snacks  to have as a bedtime treat in an attempt to cheer himself up.