I have an abiding memory of coming to live by the seaside when I was a kid. We moved from the countryside (which was great place to grow up), to the beach (which was greater). Our house was quite literally on the beach, so we didn’t have to go far for the risky stuff that kids like.

I’m still amazed that we survived to adulthood, given that we were free to roam, without supervision. We had no understanding or how perilous falling into the stormy sea could be, and we learned through experience that it was risky to walk on slime-covered breakwaters, and we often returned home soaked through.

Times were hard, back then, and though we didn’t know it our parents struggled financially. Fortunately our mother was a great forager so we didn’t go hungry. It was only later – much later – that I realised that the reason we had mussels on toast (really!) for tea, was that there was no money for anything else. I guess that’s the same reason that we were never allowed candy-floss.*

*Cotton candy, I think.