"It’s nice to watch what life is like if you don’t spend time worrying about trivial things like work and chores and that thing you said to another parent at the school gate or whether crime is on the up or fretting about that friend who has recently got into chemtrails."

"...the Tour De France was the best way to glimpse France beyond a late night Quare Film, or “les Francais adore le Piat d’Or”, or “ou est le centre de George Pompidou?”

"There is nobody else between you and your choice. Even if you act the bollox and write Custard Creams Are Dacent on your ballot paper, it’s you. You’re owning it. It’s mindful."

Because Climate Change was called Global Warming during our formative years, many of us are still expecting deserts and animal skulls. But it doesn’t always mean that. It

"There were plenty of rave smileys, but still the logos of Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Nirvana, and the odd pentangle persisted."

"Occasionally we’ll find a motherlode under a bridge. A stash. But it’s from the pre-Squiggly R days."

"Like a lot of parents of young children, I like to delude myself that the world will be fixed by the time I need it."

"You had a very definite idea of what time the family is arriving in Cork and We. Will. Not. Be. Stopping. Unless. It’s. An. Emergency."

"I remember very little of Dublin. My friend Daniel reminds me that because it was June 1990, pretty much everyone was dressed in Italia 90 gear from various Penneyses."

"Slowly, I’m putting more people in. Retrieving numbers from WhatsApp groups. Being annoyed at people who don’t have their name on their WhatsApp profile or their photo is their baby or a blurry one from 100 yards away as they finished a triathlon."