Denis Lehane: Flight of fancy in cloud cuckoo land

For the past two years, one of the back tyres of my tractor has been suffering from a slow puncture.

Having grown rather tired of borrowing the brother-in-law’s pump to top up the tyre, I decided to splurge in the January sales by investing in a new pump.

In the past, such an investment would have meant digging deep, but in these days of Lidl and Aldi, a pump can be purchased without too much pain and suffering.