The fact that hope springs eternal is what keeps us all ticking over.

And with recent results on the cricketing and athletics fronts, it is all looking rosy at the moment.

This, in itself, is an interesting state of affairs.

Great Britain’s athletes went to European Championships in Zurich as a team with potential, but certainly not expected to be all conquering, while England’s cricketers completed what was a comfortable series win over India after a five-match showdown that started with skipper Alastair Cook under pressure from a number of his predecessors in the captain’s role, who basically felt he should fall on his sword.

The athletes in Switzerland just never stopped coming up with the goods and the prospects for the Olympics in Rio in two years are very promising.

With a little self-control we can leave the likes of Jodie Williams, aged 20, 18-year-old Dina Asher-Smith, Bianca Williams, also 20 as is Adam Gemili, and another teenager in 19-year-old Matthew Hudson-Smith, not to be hyped into destruction and to get on with their business and bring some gold back from Brazil.

If they need any lessons in how to ignore any over-expectation or media doom and gloom that may crop up, they can text, Facebook, twitter or maybe even just speak to some of England’s cricket squad.

There was some justification in captain Cook taking the flak he did, but thankfully he did not doubt himself when others were not so sure and, out of the darkness, he has stepped into the light to once again be the man to lead England forward.

The problem for the media is that revolution is always sexier than evolution, and ripping things up and starting again always makes for better soundbites and headlines, but Cook is patiently managing to ensure his squad evolves.

The big bonuses from the series have to be Yorkshire’ Joe Root, who if the evolution is allowed to happen will seamlessly take the captaincy from Cook, his Tykes teammate Gary Ballance and Lancashire duo Jos Buttler and Jimmy Anderson – so all well and good for the north then – plus Moeen Ali, who has thrived when essentially nobody knew what to expect from him.

So here’s hoping that for those of us who are now forced by age to merely be armchair participants, we can stick to Pink Floyd’s exhortations to “leave those kids alone” and let them get on with winning stuff.

However, the evidence of the past few weeks suggests that they are already ignoring the old cynics and just getting on with it.