Bernard O'Shea: I have a burning desire for Mick to light my fire

With all the distractions and technology serving our brains with endless dopamine, I asked myself the question. Why do we still stare at fires?

Bernard O'Shea: Me and the kids just stared at fire, sitting on the couch, occasionally speaking for a good quarter of an hour. It was a short historic moment in our house.

Last week when the weather was awful, our heating decided it was broken. I’m humanising the boiler these days. I call him Mick. I ask him daily, “Mick, please don’t stop working because the radiators get air locked.” He never replies. It is a fact of life. When you need something to work, it won’t.