Summer's belated arrival brings with it Goodwood and cricket

The Jolly Sailor at Bursledon is not a bad place to contemplate one or two major Goodwood investments, Secret Asset's chances of winning one more race at the age of eleven and the state of Hampshire cricket.

Of course, to look out over the River Hamble is to gaze upon immense wealth and to be reminded of my old French teacher RCA Williams. "Never forget, Carnaby, one half doesn't know how the other half lives". Well over fifty years later, I see no reason to doubt his perspicacity.

Not that living quietly and sensibly would necessarily have brought any of the magnificent blue and white craft I see before me that much closer. You may feel the same way. If you'd never gambled, it doesn't mean that all the money saved would be sitting there on the hearth, a massive pile of ready to go spondulicks. You'd have had a Maserati, a lover in Maida Vale, a homburg.