Spot the ball

It’s in there somewhere. And probably has a story to tell - a child in tears, a youth in anger, a breeze that lifted it off the back seat of an open top car perhaps ...

Spot the ball competitions belong to another era as this Guardian article

https://www.theguardian.com/football/shortcuts/2015/jan/14/how-to-spot-the-ball-in-spot-the-ball

explains. They were big in my youth although one newspaper, famously, forgot to remove the actual ball when going to press on one occasion. No big prizes that week. Bit of an own goal really ...

I continue to have problems keeping my eye on the ball, employment wise. Going back to work is proving harder than I thought. There are however compensations. I found time to walk three times around the local cricket pitch with one of our doctors today, talking about pensions, mortality, and the Buddhist cycle of suffering (a common theme for NHS staff). I also got into an argument about the location of Liverpool and investigated the science of emotionally exhausting dreams. This after I bought a pair of flared trousers in Spain and ended up half naked being stared at by people in a cable car. Analyse that.

My working day is done. I am now sitting in the completely deserted wine bar run by Ben and Christophe drinking a Vedette and listening to Madeleine Peyroux. My life may be small but it is never boring. I am relaxed and I really don’t care where the ball is, as I can see the bigger picture ...