NO CONTEST...

High summer here in deepest Kent. The weather is glorious, the orchards are showing all the signs of a bumper crop and so any fears I might have had about a winter shortage of Mr. Kipling`s exceedingly good Bramley apple pies are diminishing.

We`ve waited a long time for a taste of proper summer and now that it`s here, what do we find? Yes, of course, more things to keep us indoors and glued to the television than I have ever known before. This week (and next) we have wall to wall Wimbledon on BBC2, a choice of World Cup football matches on BBC 1 or ITV, the five match 50-overs cricket series between England and Australia on Sky, along with international Rugby and all this competeing with the `normal` programmes on other channels. This afternoon we have the big one, as England`s maligned footballers play their crunch, make-or-break, defining game against Slovenia. Spoilt for choice indeed and the effects of yesterday`s budget don`t really get a look in.

And yet, for all that choice, it seems such a pity to be staying indoors on glorious afternoons and blissful evenings like we`re having and it might just be that the most satisfying thing will be to wander through the Kent countryside with Barney this afternoon and take him along to his Gold Award last chance training session with Mrs. Snopper in the cool of this evening.

It seems to me at least that, after all, the high pressure world of international sport cannot really compete with the stress-free simple pleasures of just being alive and well on a day and at a place like this. No choice at all. No contest. (I wonder what the score is.)