Mind playing tricks

A couple of times recently, I've misread news headlines to entertaining effect. The first headline, 'Ekow Eshun is new head of ICA', was interpreted by my brain as 'Ekow Eshun is new head of CIA'. Disappointly, of course, the Late Review stalwart was taking over at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, not the Central Intelligence Agency. The idea of Ekow as a spymaster is too surreal for words.
The second headline was about the England football team being given an extra week off to prepare for next summer's World Cup in Germany. The article, which featured England midfielder Steven Gerrard's thoughts on the matter, was headed 'Gerrard backs break'. Which I read as 'Gerrard breaks back', clicking through immediately to read the shocking news. News that turned out to be as mundane as a pair of socks. One positive outcome: These entertaining mental lapses do at least suggest that growing old and less sharp does have an upside. I look forward to many more surreal visions to come.