I saw a quote online a few years back, and it went something like this: at some point, you picked up your child for the last time and didn’t know it was the last time.

Amongst all the guff I see on the internet, that particular thought genuinely caused me to pause. Not because it’s sentimental, but because it’s true. One day, you scooped up your child without a second thought — they were crying, or tired, or just wanted a cuddle — and then you put them down, and that was it. You never did it again. None of us marked the occasion, and no one tapped us on the shoulder and said, that was the last one, mate. Hope you savoured it.

For more information on Keith A Pearson, visit his website, www.keithapearson.co.uk

We talk about tax as if it’s money. It isn’t. It’s time.

Every extra pound you earn costs a portion of your life. Getting up earlier. Sitting in traffic. Staring at screens. Missing things you’d rather be doing with the people in your life who matter. That’s the trade: your time for money.

For more information about Keith A Pearson, visit his website - www.keithapearson.co.uk

Nobody asked for another podcast. I know that. You know that. There are more podcasts than there are thoughts worth having — and yet, here we are.

Here's why I think this one might be worth your time.

I'm a novelist. I spend my days inside the heads of fictional people, which is as strange as it sounds. This is where I step outside those heads and talk about the stuff that actually keeps me up at night — or at least mildly irritates me during the day. Modern life, nostalgia, work, fatherhood, money, and all the things we've quietly noticed but nobody seems to say out loud.

These are short episodes. No guests, no waffle, no party politics or culture war cheerleading. Just my regular nuggets of quietly-noticed truth, delivered straight.

If that sounds like your kind of thing, hit subscribe or follow — wherever you're listening — so you don't miss an episode. I'll see you in the next one.