I present very high resolution (R = 400 000 and R = 880 000) observations o
f interstellar Ca ii absorption lines towards eight early-type stars situat
ed within 15 degrees of alpha Oph on the sky. I confirm an earlier result t
hat the interstellar structure responsible for the anomalously strong Ca ii
absorption towards a Oph has a spatial extent of less than or similar to1
pc (and is probably very much smaller). Many discrete interstellar absorpti
on components are apparent in these high-resolution data, but while several
have velocities in the range expected for the local interstellar medium (L
ISM), no convincing detections of either the local interstellar cloud (LIC)
, or the so-called G cloud, were made. In the former case, I argue that the
relatively weak LIC components are masked by components arising in more di
stant clouds, but which have LISM-like velocities owing to the pervasive in
fluence of outflow from the Sco-Cen association. The non-detection of the G
cloud is more problematical, and I tentatively argue that, previous claims
notwithstanding, this feature does not extend to galactic latitudes as hig
h as + 15 degrees in this direction.