I have absolutely no interest in football, and very little in any other sport (with the possible exception of the Tour de France). So you might think that the current convergence of World Cup fever and Wimbledon would be deeply irritating to me. Actually, I'm loving it.

I'm not enjoying the sports coverage at all — in fact, I'm studiously ignoring it all. What I mean is that I'm enjoying being disinterested in it all. It seems to me that supporting England in the World Cup is a short route to certain disappointment. Expecting any British player to win Wimbledon is completely irrational. And yet people who are sports fans continue to get drawn up into the hype, and then continue to get let down. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not a fan. I can laugh heartily when England lose or draw, though I don't do it the faces of fans, because that would be cruel, and in the case of some fans — suicidal.

One drawback of the blanket football/tennis coverage is that there is hardly anything else on TV. But even that can become an advantage: I've done more crochet, read more books, and we've been making steady progress through our Lovefilm queue. Last weekend, I finally watched Withnail & I. How I had reached the age of 40 without ever watching it, I can't explain. It was my ex-PhD supervisor's favourite film, and he frequently quoted various parts of it, so it felt very familiar, even though I'd never watched it. Anyway, it was a great film, and we had a very enjoyable and entertaining evening. Unlike England fans on Friday night...