A man is in a pub and tells the barmaid that he's always had fear of confined spaces. The barmaid asks him what the cure is. He replies that it is to never ever get married as he sees Lynne and 'Mantha arguing with George and Sammy.
It's not that busy at the Ferryboat Inn so the barmaid we saw last week can indulge in a spot of staff-client banter. It just so happens that the patron uses this opportunity to tell her about his intense claustrophobia.
The barmaid senses that it is not troubling him as much now as it did in the past because he is sitting inside the pub rather than in the beer garden so she asks him what the cure is. The man tells the story, albeit briefly, of how his claustrophobia was caused by the anxiety he suffered when married. His wife was a horrible woman who wouldn't let him do anything. However she was a well respected woman and marrying her, despite their young age, was seen as the right thing to do. He knew he was kidding himself and was stuck in a loveless marriage which caused him to have panic attacks.
His fear of commitment added to his anxiety which then manifested itself in a fear of confined spaces. Since his divorce his anxiety has lessened to the extent that he can frequent places as long as the door is open. He does know that he never wants to experience that feeling again so has vowed to never marry again.
Yes, that makes sense. When she asked "what's The Cure?", I thought he must be telling her about this new "Gothic Rock" and how its themes of fear and sadness speak to him about his own sorrows. But that would have made his next utterance nonsensical.
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