Hmmm. Well a restless night as I pondered Trevor's answer (and I did the same thing before I put the question but with a cup and its handle in the centre pointing to a golf ball and could see that it turned,) and considered my analogy of a ball at the end of a chain and being swung around before being thrown. Does the ball rotate? Is it facing the person swinging it? Does it appear to rotate to spectators? Hmmm. And I understand tidal locking and know that Mercury is tidally locked to the sun as the moon is to us. Hence my concept in the face of more expert knowledge.
Perhaps Trevor is right. Perhaps I am overcomplicating the issue.
But what about my other question? Does the moon in its orbit around the earth 'lag' as 'we' race around the sun in our orbit, and need to 'catch up' and get in 'front' thus causing the eliptical orbit and therefore perigee and apogee? Is there an in depth text on these matters that I can refer to?
I can find nothing in our state library catalogue.
Thanks folks and thank you for your patience.
Bert