BY ROBERT MCNEIL

God – damn, how did he get back in here? – forbid that anyone else should sit there. It is, he says, “my spot”.

Now, this always gets a laugh and is indeed comedic, but I’ve been surprised to find that this business of having a spot really does hold sway among you Earthlings.

It’s something I discovered at exercise classes. I’d turn up for the first time at a long-established one and put my kit bag down at some