The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
On a train journey to Arcadia many years ago while making a TV documentary.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2026 source ↗
On the island of Bequia—one summer, out of the blue, a benefactor (thank you, Charlene) flew our entire family there and put us up in a cliffside house that was a weird mixture of Gaudí and Fred Flintstone and where we went to sleep at eight and got up at five. In between we read, swam, hiked, and unknowingly enjoyed the last moment before the irrevocable shear of adolescence set in.
Walking in the rainforest with my mother, back in Nicaragua. She loved it, and inspired me to devote much of my life to protecting the environment.
The last time I held my children and every time before that. They’ve been my salvation.
Before I realised my parents, sister and I were all mortal.
Alchemy. Love. Resilience.
We don’t die. We change realms. Life is eternal. Living is not. Live while you are alive.
Looking after the flowerbed on my windowsill.
Not being there for my daughter.
A Dalí painting.
Composer, pirate, scientist, philosopher.
David Ajala, Nicholson Baker, Steve Jones, Aidan Gillen, David Arquette, Imelda Staunton
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