I am relieved to report that humiliation was averted in Wednesday night’s Rotary Quiz. All the best scores came from members who had their wives alongside them (unsurprisingly!), but I scored well amongst the solo runners. Phew!
Did you notice the extraordinary story yesterday of the Diabolical Ironclad beetle? It’s a flightless little thing about two centimetres long that mainly inhabits oak trees along America’s Western coastline. Without the ability to fly, its defence against predators is an extraordinarily strong exoskeleton that can withstand over 39,000 times its own body weight. To put that in context, if I had a similar facility, you could pile up sixty Challenger main battle tanks, one on top of the other on top of me and it wouldn’t crush me. A Challenger weighs sixty five tons. How incredible is that! No wonder scientists have been analysing its shell to see what they can learn from it in terms of creating strength in composite materials.
Oops, it’s now Sunday 28th and winter has set in. The clocks have gone back and storm and pestilence are battering our portals. I fear it might be a long march till April. Having arisen somewhat late, even for a Sunday, I have just been berated because “you know who’s” first coffee of the morning was ruined by curdled cream. Why, when I shopped on Friday night didn’t I get her some more? Because there were two cartons in the fridge already. Yes, but they were time-expired. (She’s been away for a couple of days). Of course it was my silly fault for not checking. How to ruin a nice atmosphere early in the day! I know it would be a dull world if we were all the same, but I sometimes wish we could be a bit more alike!
It took me well into my sports broadcasting career to realise the importance of having someone else to blame when things go wrong if you are an elite sportsmen. They don’t all do it, but I have often witnessed players at the top level blaming anything and anybody for their failures. To do otherwise would be a sign of weakness; that actually you are fallible and perhaps not quite as good as you thought you were. Probably the absolute master of this, in my experience, was Colin Montgomerie, a very fine golfer who dominated the European Tour for years, but never won the Major that his undoubted talent surely deserved. He was absolutely brilliant at passing the buck to anyone who happened to be in the vicinity, whether it was a cameraman, buggy driver, spectator, commentator standing fifty yards away or passing butterfly innocently examining the interior of a daisy. His entourage of managers and goffers always knew what was coming if he’d had a bad round. I suppose making millions was his justification, but thankfully there are plenty of decent, humble, likeable sporting people who still manage to achieve greatness. Men like footballer Trevor Brooking, cricketer Chris Woakes and golfers Nick Price and Lee Slattery immediately spring to mind.
I must remember, next time I do a Zoom quiz, to have a partner alongside me to blame for my inadequacies.
ADayInTheStrifeOf 