For Gary Pallister it is never far away from his thoughts. Sometimes, however, something happens which brings it into sharper focus.
The other week, the former Manchester United and Middlesbrough colossus was walking home from a trip to his local village.
‘Then it dawned on me,’ he tells Sportsmail. ‘I’d driven in. I had to go back in and pick the car up. Dear God, how can you forget that you’ve driven in?’
There have been other moments when the ex-centre half allows his mind to wander.