Well, the email exchange has cooled down a bit, and he sent this in the end:
"Perhaps a different way of explaining my situation is that I actually feel like not wanting to be with you – right here right now. There is a large part of me that wants to break free. But knowing myself (a bit) I also sense that there is an anger clouding over this view, which – I fear – if I break free from you and the anger goes away over time then there will be some deep love left underneath – i.e. the baby/ bath water argument. Because – I’m also thinking – surely there is some deep love there given that so many other aspects of our 15-17 years have worked so well – and perhaps all these issues are really small fry in the grand scheme of things – like my old mum keeps saying. I don’t know – I’m thinking back and debating whether I was/ am happy – including/ excluding the anger – and I’m still not clear about this.
I know this is saying the same thing that I’ve said before – but it’s a different way of expressing it."
I'm have the day off today so I'll be going out to a gallery and take a walk. See how I feel.
