Since our January 1999 visit to Nenagh, students attending St. Mary’s School, a small, two-room school for children aged four to 12, have been e-mailing us with wonderful questions like:

Bruce: “Are polar bears in Iceland? Penguins? Arctic foxes?”
Natasha: “In England, did you meet any famous people like the Queen?”
Peter: “If you go to China, will you try the delicacy pickled python?”
Jeremy: “Which country was the most polluted?”
Gavin: “What are the most important things in your trailer?”
Jonathan: “How do you manage to get all the different currencies?”

I told them we were returning to the western-most point in Ireland, in order to travel round-trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back to the Atlantic – which had never been done before in a car – and the children invited us to attend their Christmas pageant. We delivered Santa and toys via our Millennium Mercedes and the children went wild. “This is the coolest car in the world,” shouted one girl. “Do you really think in the whole world?” asked her friend. “Yes, look at it. Have you seen anything better?” Ten year-old Neville, who played a Wise Man in the pageant, told me, “I’m just small for my age. Really I have my license. Please let me drive!”