[1] It is set between October 2019 and January 2020 and takes place on a sleeper train and in a tenement flat in Portobello, Edinburgh.

Together they skive, retreating to Mister Bob's sleeper cabin or to an empty First Class carriage to drink lager.

His soaks connect him nostalgically to childhood, promoting lengthy ruminations about himself, his personal history, and his place in the 21st century.

He reads an article in a women's magazine left in the netting on the back of a passenger chair about "self-care" and comes to understand his metamorphosis but remains confused as to why such humanitarian guidance isn't also extended to people like himself.

He experiences a long and intense Panic Vision in which he believes the International Space Station is falling from the sky.

The Panic Vision, combined with a message of emotional rejection from Tracey, brings back his suicidal thoughts.

His suicide attempt is left incomplete however, when he slips on the bath mat and bangs his head on the side of the bathtub.

"[3] The novel mentions the 2019 protests of Extinction Rebellion, the ISS tenure of Chris Hadfield, and UK politicians Caroline Lucas and Jacob Rees-Mogg.