Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2024 source ↗
When I was a kid, travelling from Ethiopia to the UK, the plane door opened, the oxygen masks came down and the plane did an emergency landing in Egypt.
Being driven across the Atlas Mountains in a snowstorm 25 years ago, by a local taxi driver who plainly put a lower premium on the advantages of living than me.
On the interstate. Anyone who has driven in the United States will know that you are always very close to death – it is like the wild west on the freeways.
Climbing Scafell Pike in the Lake District when I was about 15. The winds were about 85mph, my legs lifted and I nearly flew off. Thankfully somebody grabbed me.
Worrying about the faux pas I made earlier that evening. I tend to suffer from foot-in-mouth disease.
When the book of my enemy was discounted.
I can’t cook. I use my smoke alarm as a timer.
Not winning any literary prizes.
My own books being discounted. Oh, and sharks. The reason we Aussies swim so fast is because something much bigger is always trying to eat us.
Falling in love is like going to the doctor and being told that you need to put on weight. You feel elated.
Irvine Welsh, Jenny Diski, Ram Dass, Nina Riggs, Bernadine Evaristo, Fatima Bhutto
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