4 October 2006 (I do not remember the precise time I reached this destination). I feel run down and decide to go back to the Rec to catch up with others. I arrive feeling poorly and realise that there is a Fete here. BLUE and DESMOND, who has a football, are here. ANNABELLE asks HASSAN where he got his cool wristband from. I say ‘hello’ but hear nothing back. I am too tired to talk about Handke today but do send one last apologetic email from the hotel, a difficult and painful one to write. It takes me a very long time to put it together it, and almost as long to send it. I end up paying £30 for it. I have no idea of what is ahead and all my notes are covered in coffee stains.

5 October 2006 13 or so gametime (11am or so my time) I am at the Rec. ANNABELLE is still wondering about HASSAN’s wristband. I am run down. I pickup and use a cup of tea. I think this helps me. ANNABELLE suggests we go skating, but then never replies, so I don’t know what she wishes to do. HASSAN, who has a muscular chest and DESMOND who has webbed feet are also here but do not engage in dialogue.

6 October 2006 14 or so gametime, 11+ am or so my time. I am in my office. Students keep on knocking at my door. Did I have a good Summer? Is it true I am not teaching them next year? What is this story about us working with neuroscientists in Barcelona? How is my daughter? Can we meet again? Soon? Now? It’s great to have them back and see our wonderful new building buzzing again with life.

7 October 2007 3.50pm gametime, 7.35pm my time. 80s pop is ‘booming’. ANNABELLE and PAUL are here.

8 October 2006, 3.59pm gametime, 11.06am my time. I am at the Rec. The fete has been successful and I am feeling run down. I am still wearing my wristband. ANNABELLE is here.

9 October 2006. 5.58 gametime, 8.45 my time. I finally arrive at the REC. PAUL is here. I ask if anyone needs a defibrillator. I get no reply. I must ask again in the morning. Somehow I now wonder – everyone has been ill here but me. Am I still to become ill, or why am I not ill? Some figurines seem like statues, present but silent. Others do no longer seem to move within the game, paralysed through disease, desperate for help. Others have disappeared altogether. I thought there were 80 of us in here. I am not so sure I can see the evidence of that now. The phone is silent for the rest of the evening. I prepare myself for what will be a difficult day.

10 October 2006 5.59 pm gametime 10.59 am my time. Here I am at the Rec, trying to find STAN who is poorly. The river Elbe looks beautiful in the distance. I feel peaky. I am carrying a defibrillator. There is a lot to do today. My mother and I are meeting the pastor to discuss my aunt’s funeral tomorrow. He wants us to talk about her life, her passions, what she loved and what her last few years were like. The latter part, of course, was the hardest. As we leave, I learn that SUPER GIRL has already helped STAN and JOE. I am not needed here and, to quote STAN, I can ‘wonder and spread the love X’. My mother and I both find this very funny.

11 October 2006, 7.40 pm gametime, 5.14 pm my time I decide to try the Rec again, in case anyone’s still there, but only find a vast helicopter with twin rotors sitting between the goalposts. There are lots of soldiers around, listening to radio. Actually, I remember my father telling me how he picked up some of the very little English he knew by watching US soldiers listening to the radio. It must have been 1945. I look for HASSAN again but he is not here. I give up, both on him and BARNEY.