Hug

My best mate is more tactile than me. Sometimes when he is off to work on the rigs for a while or we have had a drink and are going our own ways he gives me a hug. I have known him for 21 years so you'd think I'd be comfortable with it by now but I still stiffen perceptibly each time it happens (not in that way). Have I really been conditioned so thoroughly by my 1970s upbringing and stand offish step dad that I will never be able to go with the flow? What made me think about this and what makes it odder is the fact that I hugged and was hugged by a number of rough/ tough blokes I'd never met before on Sunday and can say that I was unquestionably unstiff.

My girl is worse. When she saw the video clip of the final whistle below she even said that she was glad she wasn't at Wembley. Maybe that makes us even more suited. I'll buy her a hermetically sealed bubble ball so that she can roll around our house in it while I, Howard Hughes like, disinfect everything and only receive visitors who have been through a special decontamination chamber.