I just walked off the tennis court without playing a stroke. Not in protest, I wasn’t wearing my yellow jacket. But because although it is a really beautiful morning and sunny and gorgeous and even much less frigid than yesterday, when I did play, its fucking icy. Not like sheets of ice, not hard ice, not even all white. But very very slippery. And if I’m honest I actually lack the levels of common sense to be worried about breaking a leg, twisting an ankle, dislocating a shoulder (agaiaiaiain), because I never ever think it could happen to me. If you’ve ever seen me on skis you’d appreciate this. I don’t really have normal, protective fears. Not for myself. The only thing I actually fear is Mel. Because if I did fall on an icy court, the day before we go on a 3-week holiday, my life (as I know it) would effectively be ‘over’. Recriminations would be loud, would be bloody and would go on forever. So me and the Wolf-man opted for the far less dangerous option of coffee.

I love Bruce Springsteen. I’ve always loved ‘The Boss’. Who doesn’t? He’s brilliant, talented, enduring and has that endless blue-collar, ‘working class’ charm, even though he’s a billionaire nine times over. And I’ve loved him for all of that. But this picture depressed me.

Because old dudes who hang out in Levis and scruffy t-shirts are effectively role models for… old dudes like me who hang out in Levis and scruffy t-shirts. We’re old but we don’t feel the need to suddenly wear 3-piece suits to wash the car or pop into Sainsbury’s. We’re from the ‘take us as you find us’ generation, weaned on the hippy ethos of laid-back and unfussy.

Then he dyes his fucking hair black. Which, for me, is a red line. Why would any man do that? Hate to get all sexist and kind’a binary about this but there are some things in which the genders do indeed differ. Throwing, pissing, speaking about feelings, speaking about cars and dying hair. They are the only differences that are allowed to be mentioned without incurring the wrath of someone or other. And twerking. But that depends whether said twerking is for purposes of empowerment (men aren’t allowed to empower) or sluttishness (men have no problem with that), and hair dye. Unless you’re an essentially dishonest person, like Trump, Andrew Neill, every other American in Congress or the Senate. Don’t do it, Bruce.

As Tom Robinson (no relation) sang many years ago: ‘sing if you’re glad to be grey’.

Happy Sunday

After a truly amazing week for Spurs. And a really diabolical one for Chelsea.

A xxxx