Gazing out of the office window this lunchtime (nothing on TV of the Internet) the footprint pattern in the snow got me thinking.

It was made by Potts when he went outside on the mobile to take a private call. As with a graphologist checking out the writing style to read the personality of the author, can the footprint pattern tell us anything about the personality of the man on the phone. Or could it tell us something more about the content of the phone call.

Now I am not sure if I have read the pattern correctly but here's my stab at it. If you are an expert and know better, let me know.

Potts' conversation

Putting it all together and looking again at Potts' footprint pattern we have descerned that the outward steps were made when he was calling "she who must be obeyed". He was making initial overtures hoping for a nice tea when he got home.

On reaching the driveway he was being given a shopping list. Each step mark to the right identifying a new item on the list. The track marks back to the office covered the part of the conversation where he indicated he had the list off pat and would not forget anything.

The return path to the driveway and the steps from right to left indicate that she may not have been happy with such platitudes and demanded that he read the list again from the beginning to make sure no errors. Carefully retracing his steps he placed his feet in each print to ensure the list was right.

Finally, with head bowed in defeat, he closed the conversation and returned to the office ... beaten.