Up here in the northern hemisphere we need a bit of comfort at this time of year; something warm and familiar to let us know that all’s right in the world and the status quo persists.
That’s ‘status quo’ and not ‘Status Quo’, you understand. Francis Rossi et al. have never been much of a mental crutch for us, even in our darkest days. Like that time when we were out of teabags and couldn’t find our wallet. Where were our denim-clad saviours then, eh? Strutting around playing 12-bar blues standards in Sunderland, that’s where. Useless.
No, the warm glow of familiarity comes instead from Sachin Tendulkar. For the last 750 years Sachin’s been hitting hundreds and he’s not stopping now. We don’t care that it’s a pitch so flat that tail-enders are scoring fifties at will. We’re just reassured that Sachin Tendulkar can still be bothered.
I love that “raise the roof” photo of Sachin.