Almost as quickly as the lead was built, however, it was squandered.
Perhaps it was squandered, in a larger artistic sense, but it still makes for captivating, and oddly reassuring, reading — it's a relief to know that, even if your life were more glamorous, you wouldn't necessarily be any happier.
Money that could, and should, have been used to add value to society was not invested; it was squandered as surely as if the parties had wagered on a horse race.
First, McNaughton's cross to Whelan at the back post presented Aberdeen with a goalscoring opportunity, but it was squandered when the striker shot across the face of goal.
A chance had opened up for Everton in this season's FA Cup but it was squandered quite spectacularly - and how Goodison Park, or at least those supporters still inside a rapidly deserting stadium at the final whistle, let Moyes and his players know it.
He is thought to have earned more money from the sport than any other fighter until nearly a century later, but much of it was squandered.
Though 2006's "Casino Royale" -- Daniel Craig's first as Bond -- generated plenty of goodwill, much of it was squandered by the lackluster "Quantum of Solace".
The real crime of genetic modification is not its risks but that it is squandering its promise, widening the gap between rich and poor.
But many are worried that it is squandering its opportunity.
