It was all coming back to me. Memories were waiting at the edges of things, beckoning to me. Had you told me that I was seven again. I might have half-believed you, for a moment.
-- The Narrator (Chapter 1 paragraph 7)

Importance: Age and time are flexible concepts in The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Memory allows characters to move back and forth, flexibly, between them.

How long have you been eleven for?
-- The Narrator (Chapter 3 paragraph 30)

Importance: In asking Lettie this question, the narrator glazes over the question of how old she and her family are. They are obviously not normal people, with regular lifespans, but the novel does not specify anything about the secret of their long lives.

Something came to me, and pleaded for love and help. It told me how I could make all the things like it happy.
-- The Lady of the Place (Chapter 4 paragraph 43)

Importance: The creature that will be manifested as Ursula Monkton describes the call that brought it to the...