John has won five league titles, with five different teams. He explains his success in the league is a direct result of having all day to think of nothing but the game ahead.
“Painters and decorators are some of the greatest thinkers in the world.”
He grins and we laugh together, but I think he may have a point. I have been troubled for some time by the fact that I currently receive information at such a rate that it is physically impossible for me to examine all of it properly. Even if that were all I did all day, I would not scratch the surface. I am troubled because I cannot digest it all, which frustrates my curiosity. But primarily, I am troubled because I suspect that in the long term this torrent of data may injure my ability to think clearly.
I’m reminded of my visit to Southern India, where in the backwaters of Kerala, fertiliser running off agricultural land had created a suffocating algal bloom in the waterways.
Today marked the end of my work as a painter. It was a success, the garden is much improved. But riding home across London I felt a slight sense of melancholy as I realised that I was going to miss John. He was, as he would tell me, “The best of a bad lot.”
