'It’s not a beautiful word, is it, Munster?'

It’s not a beautiful word, is it, Munster? It doesn’t reflect the beauty of the place it names — it sounds too like munter, “an unattractive person, especially a woman”. Or the Munsters, that kitsch monster family from 1964 who were never quite as famous as the Addams. Or Monster Munch. Or mustard. There’s a medieval city in Germany called Munster, and a suburb in Indiana, pop 22,000. And there’s us.

I was made in Munster the year Sgt Pepper was released, before releasing myself from Munster nineteen years later; provincial Ireland was not a fun place to be in the Eighties, especially for women. Far more exciting the vast anonymity of London, the friendly sunshine of Barcelona, the heat of faraway places where it never rained and nobody knew your business.