Coming down a steep mountain path towards the end of one of my walks today, I heard someone behind me on the verge of overtaking. I turned to look at the speedy perambulator and received a tremendous shock: an elderly man, stocky build, heavily, but pleasantly lined face with twinkling blue eyes, topped out by a flat cap. Basically, a quite remarkable ringer for my dad. It was such a shock I literally jumped. He apologised for startling me, and I explained why. My dad died 6 years ago, and one of my tasks was to identify his body when it had been returned to the UK, so I shouldn't have been so amazed. But death is a funny thing sometimes...
Watching the Tour de France later this afternoon on Eurosport, I was treated to an absolutely terrific piece of television as the 2 leaders, only 8 seconds separating them at the beginning of the day, battled it out relentlessly up the Col du Tournamet in the Pyrenees. Neither would give an inch, or even a millimetre, psyching each other out with hostile stares and glances all the way up that formidable climb. There is little love lost between the two: 2 days ago the Luxemburger Andy Schleck, holding a narrow lead at the time, lost his chain, and Alberto Contador of Spain unsportingly seized his advantage to attack- an action which prompted jeers from the crowd when donning his yellow jersey at the end of the day's racing. This incident has already entered the mythology of the Tour as "Chaingate"
Brilliant stuff!
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