This was about twenty years ago, as three of us travelled round the republic of Ireland in an old transit van in the summer holidays from University.

We were a bit lost and I pulled up next to an old fella and his collie dog on a one lane road out in the middle of nowhere. I asked him how he would get to Limerick and after looking around with a pained expression for a few seconds, he turns to us and says, "my sister takes me".