In dreams, but that’s about it.

How many times I could have died before now, and in how many different ways. And yet I came close only once: a speeding sedan ran a red light, hit three other vehicles, and jack-knifed into my rear wheel split second after I’d stepped out of my parked car. A bystander described the scene to me later. “You were a millimetre away from losing your legs,” he said.

I was on a plane in India and I thought it was going to crash. It was an old, rickety thing. It was pre-children - I wouldn't do it now.

It is a very rare affliction. A GP would expect to meet it once in a career and this form of brain cancer is unpredictable and dangerous. Usually, this tumour might give you only a two-year span since its discovery. I have had two operations and one course of radiotherapy and now three chemotherapies (one currently starting). My death is, in a sense, imminent. I say to myself: I am dying. Something in my head is hurrying to kill me.

Watching the South Korean film Past Lives. I was on a plane and weeping uncontrollably.

Being called upon by President Bush to ask him a question at a press conference when I wasn’t there. He called my name … and there was no response!

Surviving this world.

Whenever I’m with my wife and I’m not preoccupied with work.

The usual racist shit.

Other people’s suffering.