Editor’s letter

Summer can be a wistful time, a time of nostalgia, and it can also be a time to dream of a different life. Because we are set free of the shackles of the daily grind for proscribed periods during the summer, we can find ourselves wondering if there isn’t another life for us, where we could be free.

Francois Colussi, who is the subject of this week’s Waking Hours, has taken the road less travelled, and it sounds like his life is one long summer, even when it’s raining. And who knew you could construct a whole life and a business around kitesurfing in Dublin? But it turns out you can.

Regarding wistfulness, we have three lovely pieces of writing for you this week that look back with various moods. Basic B*tch remembers her mother in front of the make-up mirror, the time they were closest. Declan Lynch reflects on the love lives of alcoholics like him, and Tommy Tiernan remembers a time when he was poor but happy.

And if you want to change your life, but not too much, we have a 16-page interiors supplement full of good ideas for revolutionising your home.