Linguistically we might cling to the word ‘destination’ or its plural, ‘destinations’ which holds out the hope for a plurality of ends, but I am afraid we are fated to face that old enemy: destiny.

I was rather surprised by Assisi. I expected the home town of St Francis, who was declared the patron saint of ecology by Pope Paul II in November 1979, to be a haven for wildlife.

Canada Day celebrates the British North America Act of 1867, uniting Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with Manitoba and the Northwest Territories hastily added in 1870, and British Columbia in 1871.

Maybe it was the price of trying to lead a double life, but I was left broken after three consecutive Fridays – the year I turned nineteen.