“I dropped my gardening tools, threw my bicycle over a hedge and went in search of fortunes laid beneath the hangman’s noose.”

“The only person to blame for your situation is you.”

“We get so used to the gregarious nature of our towns and villages that we forget how crowded our existence has become.”

“It was a country life, a precious existence.”

“Angling is just a way of relaxing and escaping in the countryside.”

“It is this brighter side, the romantic side, the emotional side, that appeals to me.”

“There’s no such thing as ‘not enough time’ out here in the woods. I don’t even have a watch. Time is my own, categorised as nothing more than ‘morning, afternoon, evening and night’.”

“I like to start slowly, and then ease up as the day progresses.”

“Leaving the rat race is easy. All you have to do is quit your job, sell your house, and go and live in a tent in the middle of nowhere. It’s staying out of the rat race that’s tricky.”

“Status: the perpetual carrot that entices us from the front and prods us in the back.”

“I wish for a simple life.”