The Irish have a flair for wringing from death the last drop of emotion and they do not quite understand those who react otherwise.

... strong bonds are forged in high emotional temperatures.

On my tenth birthday a bicycle and an atlas coincided as gifts, and a few days later I decided to cycle to India...However, I was a cunning child so I kept my ambition to myself, thus avoiding the tolerant amusement it would have provoked among my elders.

one of the advantages of cycling is that it automatically prevents a journey from becoming an Expedition.

There are two phases of enjoyment in journeying through an unknown country - the eager phase of wondering interest in every detail, and the relaxed phase when one feels no longer an observer of the exotic, but a participator in the rhythm of daily life.

apartheid still hangs in the air like a poisonous cloud left over from chemical warfare.

The Irish have a flair for wringing from death the last drop of emotion and they do not quite understand those who react otherwise.