Tailing off limply

Not much today. Shattered and have a need for silence – but also can’t finish without the last day. But I’ve gone all terse. Not very articulate.

Yesterday was fun. Great morning/afternoon with Mary and Greg, over from London and making the ultimate sacrifice of being on the Eurostar during the final sprint. Thank you guys – so lovely to see you!

In the grand stands above the Champs Elysees was busy, baking and, frankly, hard work. We got there at 5pm, with estimated arrival of cyclists from 8pm. The sun was fierce and Tam had had enough and so had I. Tam spiralled into madness then suddenly fell asleep for two hours, thank god. When the cyclists arrived we saw two of the laps of the circuit from our spot near the finish. Very exciting. Then I had a fight with a random man – the rare loss of my temper, never very pleasant. I decided both of us had had it. We walked back to our hotel (no mean feat) and watched Kittel take it, and then the podium and laser show, from our beds. I felt no sadness about doing this – we saw more and I killed nobody.

Good for Kittel! Poor old Cav though. I don’t mind him not winning – and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t today anyway, given the tenor of the whole Tour for him – and in fact it’s kind of good for him to come down a few pegs. But the press has been pretty bad for him, and I don’t like people being slagged off by everyone, so I feel sorry for him in the next few days. He must be glad it’s all over.

Scary woman met Quintana last night. She said he was very arrogant for one so young. I wondered if she had any idea how terrifying she is when she talks – poor Nairo must have wanted to run for the hills. Anyway, I don’t buy into the idea that sportspersons must be friendly and welcoming and open characters if that is what they are not. It’s nice when they are … but if you ain’t Pollyanna what’s the point in trying? Can’t you be yourself and have other valuable skills than just warmth at first meeting of strangers?

 

Anyway, Tam and I have had breakfast and are now back in bed. Enough.

All in all, I’d do the group thing again, provided I could blog to protect my soul. It was tough, but I learnt a lot and it made me practise and improve my poor social skills. And Tam – well. It was a big thing to ask of her, and bar a couple of meltdowns she’s shown enormous flexibility and maturity. There were times I would have liked her to disappear but, on balance, travelling with her is a joy – and luckily one I have many more years to enjoy yet.

Thanks for reading this blog – I hope it has been interesting/informative/entertaining. I don’t think I could have managed a group tour without it.