Séamas O'Reilly: On freak accidents, frailty — and the importance of showing concern

"Mortified that someone would fuss over me, I adopted a breezily upright gait and a neutral expression — this achieved the desired effect but led, almost immediately, to the opposite emotional response within me: I found myself distantly offended that no one seemed to care.

Seamas O'Reilly: he went for a morning run on his birthday. Picture: Orfhlaith Whelan

If I have an abiding principle for my weekly columns, it’s to avoid becoming a ‘How it started/how it’s going’ meme. You know the kind of thing. 

People screen-grabbing a previous headline of mine that says something ebullient and brash like “I have never flushed my toilet” alongside a later, more mournful offering like “What I now know about cholera will shock you”.