"The bittersweetness comes in photos near the edge of towns. You see dotey fields with massive hedges and wild corners that are now ‘mews’ and ‘crescents’ and ‘ways’ that ‘views’ are named after the countryside townlands they swallowed up."

It’s never too early for children to learn that careers aren’t linear, that adults find transition hard

They weren’t making memories or mucking about with a stick and an intricate game. They were just plain Watching Telly. Watching the absolute sh-one-t out of it

"I think I’m at the cranky stage of life where I don’t have time for complicated metaphors or imagery and get annoyed when people don’t get to the point."

You can’t underestimate the power of free stuff, especially free fuel, and especially free fuel that would have been thrown out

Part 2 — some more easy things we (ok I) don’t do enough of

I’m not talking about sea swimming or long walks. These require effort and planning. I’m talking about things that are within reach, yet inexplicably underused.

"It’s a reminder of the passage of time. Like finding out that the young people you didn’t understand are themselves baffled by the generation that come after them."

If anyone feels like inviting me to a dinner party, rest assured I’ll be casually introducing the word "pericarp" into the conversation

"If you were a pretentious country teenager in a house without a VCR, there was nowhere else to watch this stuff. Watching quare/slow films was one of the reasons for going to college."