Now I work from home, my house has become a known refuge during all sporting events for those who wish to escape the tyranny of the schedules of FIFA/Wimbledon/the Olympic committee/whoever runs cricket. The only reason I knew Euro 2016 had started at all was that friends began turning up on my doorstep asking if they could stay for 90-minutes-plus-possible- extra-time and I had to start buying extra biscuits.

But this year is different. This year I am seeing all sorts of things that I never saw before. Maybe it’s because I’m older, maybe it’s because things in the news have been so bleak for so long, maybe it’s just my growing need to find something inspirational in the world, but I’m starting to look at sportsmen and women quite differently.

As Wimbledon kicked off this week, I found myself wondering what it would be like to care about something so much, to be so dedicated to a goal. To not just fight for your place in a tournament, to then fight to win it too. To give it your all, to be driven to compete, to succeed. That must be – that must be…well… quite something.

“We should all give ourselves a sporting chance” Lucy Mangan on learning to appreciate sport