Damien Enright: Living in hope of a better world

Spending time outdoors has plenty of benefits, but we have to be kinder to nature — now is the time for inspiration and aspiration

'Outdoors is the residence of truth; nature is implacably true. And when we screw around with it dangerously, it will deliver salutary lessons to us.'

Christmas is coming; the pubs may not be able to offer the customary hospitality, but there’s no reason not to enjoy a few glasses at home. A lively walk on a crisp, clear December morning will disperse the fumes of the night before. Let us hope the Christmas mornings are ‘crisp and even’, and not sodden and drab.

I firmly believe that, over my lifetime, there’s been a bigger increase in rainfall than snowfall in West Cork and Kerry. Such an assertion may mean I’m approaching the Age of Hallucination. I thought I’d been there already, back in the early 1960s in Ibiza and Formentera, where we were inventing a new, pacific world, or so we thought.