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Saturday 26th September 2020

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No kids til 6pm and so there was a lie-in, breakfast in bed and a morning of watching the excellent Ghosts on iPlayer. The bliss of having no responsibilities is almost too much to bear. 
We went for a 6km run before lunch and even that felt like a luxury, because we got to do something non-parent related together. We passed through a lot of fields and I occasionally stopped to clear a tasty stone, but it gave me some idea of the task ahead. Even if, I mean when, I clear my field, there are a lot more fields in the world and a whole lot of stones. It’s almost like what I want to achieve is impossible.
I lost track of time in the bath and realised it was nearly 3 and we hadn’t had lunch yet, but also that meant only three hours of happiness left. But then we chilled in front of the fire and I did a bit of actual book reading. We got a video through of our kids exploring and our son looking at the ground through a magnifying glass and saying “Look at the mud” as if he’d discovered diamonds. Dirt isn’t diamonds mate. It’s stones that are diamonds. My heart yearned for him, even as my brain shouted, “Shut up you stupid heart and make the most of his absence.”
I also managed to get into a protracted discussion on Twitter about whether it would be possible to win a point against Serena Williams at tennis. It’s a question asked on the back cover of the book and it’s surprising how many people believe that they could. People seem to assume she’d double fault or make an error that would gift them a point, without understanding that she only makes errors in her matches because she’s playing against the top 100 players in the world. One persistent customer was saying that in 100 shots she would certainly make an error. I pointed out the match would not last 100 shots, but even if it did then she wouldn’t. I suspect that some of the people joining in were being deliberately dumb about it, but I am not entirely sure. Still, it proves that the book needs to be out there and it’s fun seeing people having wildly unrealistic expectations about themselves and severely underestimating the talent of the world’s top sportspeople. 
Nobody seemed to contemplate that they might be nervous to face the greatest female tennis player of all time or intimidated when the ball came back at them at terrifying speed. Look at her playing, by her standards, at walking pace and how easily she dispenses with relatively fit young men and how badly she hurts them when they get in the way of the ball. I think most of us would run away before five of the 48 points she'd need to win to take us 2 sets to love were even played.
Yet 25% of men (not fit men or sportsmen, all men however old or unfit) said they’d win a point or didn’t know if they would or not when asked about this in the survey I mention in the book. 
They wouldn’t though. 
It’s not about sexism (or not only about that - I am sure some of those men who think they can get a point off Serena would admit they couldn’t get one against Andy Murray, but many of them would still believe he’d make an unforced error), it’s about the over-confidence of men (and some women) and where that kind of fantasyland self-belief can sometimes take them.
And then the kids came home and I’d wasted an hour on idiots.
Lovely to see them though. Lovelier to put them to bed and drink some wine.


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