I had an encounter with someone with totally appalling manners. And it wasn't that I ran into someone on the streets who swore at me for no reason - it was actually someone I have known for quite a while now.

I had a terrible urge to dash an equally rude email back, to parry and then riposte. There was this urgent, suffocating need to cut back, and cut deeper; I knew it would be easier if I just left this whole thing alone and walked away, but it took a huge effort of will not to write back.

And then, I never thought it possible, but for some reason, something clicked and it all became terribly trivial. There was a huge relief, when I realised I could just do nothing, and walk away, none the poorer.

So I did. I walked away, and I'm walking, still.