Last night I returned to New York after nine long days spent driving around Ireland. Usually, when I’m on one of these trips, I come back with some profoundly clever observation about parenthood abroad.

Not this time. For some reason or other, I just didn’t see much of parents interacting with their kids. Which may in itself be strange.

But I did see one phenomenon that struck me as odd: young mothers pushing prams (what we know as “strollers”) down long, empty sidewalks. It’s not the strangest thing, I guess, but I was driving a lot of small roads, and then I’d look over and see these women trucking along on a sidewalk, with almost nothing else in the vicinity. Where were they coming from, or going to?

It was mysterious, and a little sad.