Plastic is miraculous. It’s transformed the world. Isn’t it a shame to only use it once?

Forget the vampires. Why not send your child out as the Abhartach, an Irish bad spirit. Or Balor of the evil eye

Watching our two kids experience the circus for the first time was just lovely. It was fairly different to the circus in Dripsey I went to years ago

One hit wonders lists are great for confirming things you thought you’d dreamt actually happened. 

Reading Roald Dahl to a child means them being enraptured in a giant peach and then me digressing every now and then to explain why a nasty thing he wrote is nasty

"If worried parents start paying €100 an hour to bring children to jump around a hall to jostle someone from Grenagh, I won’t be surprised."

I know the opportunities to truly impress my children will ebb away over time. But within a few short years/ months/ possibly days, they will gradually realise my weaknesses.

Charity shops can be handy for toys. They allow you to say yes to a child you’ve been saying ‘no, that’s too dear’ to all day in the New Toy shop

I remember being a teenage boy, spitting was a skill to be honed.

It has the industrial vibes without any of the pretentious codswallop