Back to the UK.

Tuesday 28 July.

 

After breakfast there was a few things to pack away before we left. Moira packed the video recorder and the TV into their boxes and I put them up in the loft. I checked the rat killer that I had put there when I cleared the loft two months ago. It was all still in place and not been eaten, showing that we must had got rid of the rats. Moira moved the car down to the parking slots and I closed the garage door and fitted the blocks on the runner to prevent opening. With everything packed, the house neat and tidy and all our security measures in place we were on our way about 9:30 am.

 

We stopped at the Spar supermarket on the way to pick up some fruit for our lunch, Moira had made sandwiches before leaving. It was a lovely day and the drive to King Shaka airport was uneventful with very little traffic on the road. Before dropping the car off with Budget/ Avis we filled up with petrol at the filling station we were told about at near the hire car drop-off point. I took photographs of the car being filled and the dash board with the petrol tank showing full. I have plenty of evidence if they try to charge us for petrol and Moira also made sure she got a receipt this time.

 

In the departures hall Moira printed off our boarding passes from the machine, she had booked in for all our flights on the internet last night. Once we had our passes we checked in our cases then it was on to security. There wasn't any problems and we were soon through to wait two hours for our flight to Jo'burg. We went to a bar and ordered beers to go with our lunch then sat and read until it was time to go. It was just an hour until we landed at O R Tambo airport. There we had to collect our cases from the carousel before checking in at the BA desk for our next stage. Our cases were labelled to go through all the way to Glasgow and they printed our boarding passed for the flight to London and for the next one to Glasgow. The security checks were straight forward again, the only nuisance is that we have to take the laptop and the Freeview recorder out of our backpacks each time to go through the x-ray machine separately. Next it was emigration where we got our passports examined and stamped

 

We had three hours to wait for our plane for London at 7 pm. We continued reading our newspapers for a while then went to look for a bar to get a beer to go with a couple of sausages that were left and Moira cooked last night. We found a restaurant but we couldn't just order a beer, Moira enquired at the information desk and they said there weren't any bars. There was a 'Mugg and Bean' coffee shop where we ordered a bottomless cup of coffee instead. The service was terrible and we nearly walked out after waiting so long when the waiter arrived with our order. It was a repeat when we asked for a top up for our bottomless cup but it passed the time and soon it was time to make for our boarding gate.

 

We had to show our boarding passes and passports to get into the waiting area just to sit for they were ready for us to board. The woman looked at my photograph in my passport then asked me to remove my hat to get a better comparison. Before this we had been scrutinised at the check-in desk, security and emigration without having to remove my hat but to get a seat in the waiting area it was required? It is either security paranoia or airport security is a growth occupation industry. The aircraft we were on was the latest thing with an upper deck. When Moira checked our seats on the web last night she said we were up top but we thought that was the small bump at the front of the plane where we had been seated once before. But this was different, it was a whole upper deck similar in size to the normal one below. There were separate boarding sections for upper and lower decks and it was quite a quick and efficient loading operation. Our seats were in the centre section and I had an aisle seat, this meant that I didn't have any worries about disturbing somebody to get to the toilet during the night.

 

The plane took off on time and it wasn't long before they were serving dinner. We both had salad with a spicy chicken and rice. It was all right and there had a nice wine to go with it. I watched a couple of TV comedies on the entertainment screen. There were both 'Still Open all Hours' the spin off from the old Ronnie Barker comedy of the 70's. After that there was a film of the Oscar Wilde play, 'The Importance of being Ernest' with Colin Firth and Judi Dench which was very good. I tried to watch something else but my eyes were closing and I tried to get to sleep. I was feeling cramped and my neck was sore but I was just managed to drop off when there was a scream from Moira. She was sleeping and the woman sitting next to her somehow stood on her foot and wakened her with a start. After that we both took pain killers and managed to get a bit if sleep.

 

 

Wednesday 29 July.

 

I must have managed a couple of hour's sleep as I wakened when they were starting to serve breakfast at 3:30 am(BST, we were back an hour). We both had an omelette which was a bit rubbery. The landing was on time at Heathrow and then we had a long walk to get to where we were catching our connection to Glasgow. It involved a walk on the moving walkway, a journey on the small driverless train then the ordeal of another security check. This was the worst one we have encountered. The queue moved very slowly and we removed the laptop and recorder from our packs as before. That went all right but for some reason my backpack was put to one side for closer examination. This was in a long queue of other bags to be checked closely and another long wait. When it was my turn they emptied the pack and waved some electronic wand over everything then sent it through the x-ray machine again. They found nothing and I was left to repack the bag again. It was fortunate that we had plenty of time ( 4 hours) before our flight to Glasgow.

 

We found a seat and parked ourselves for the wait. There was free WiFi and Moira downloaded the newspaper to her iPad. When I got my iPad out I found that the battery was flat. There were charging points nearby and I put it on to charge and after half an hour was able to download the 'Telegraph' as well and work on the crossword. The boarding gate for our flight wasn't put on the info display until three quarters of an hour before it was due to take-off. When we got the gate number as usual it was at the far end of the row of gates and a 10 minute walk. There was a large queue and we sat down until it cleared and we got on near the end. The plane was full and I had to put our bags in a locker well away from where we were seated. The take-off was 30 minutes late but that must have been taken into account in the schedule as we landed in Glasgow on time, 11:30 am.

 

It was just after midday when we headed to the bus stops for home. There weren't any delays after leaving the plane and our packs came through fairly quickly. We had just missed a bus to Braehead but there was one going to Paisley which we took and caught a train from there to Port Glasgow. When we got off the train Moira bought rolls for lunch at the bakery and we took a bus home and saved money by not taking a taxi.

 

Everything was all right in the house but the garden was a bit overgrown and will need attention soon. We settled down for some lunch when we got in, Moira had some salmon that she put that on the rolls with a cup of tea. In the afternoon we relaxed and once I got the TV going watched some old comedies late afternoon. After that it was quizzes while we had dinner. Moira had chicken drumsticks in the freezer and we had them with cous-cous. The third Ashes Test Match from Edgbaston started today And I watch the highlights on Channel 5. England did extremely well and bowled Australia out for 136. In reply they were 133/3, they should win this one.

 

We were both very tired and got to bed at 8:30 pm which was actually 9:30 pm SA time and by our body clocks.

 

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Getting ready to leave tomorrow.

Monday 27 July.

 

This was our last day here, tomorrow we make our way up to Jo'burg to connect with our flights to London and Glasgow. Before breakfast we went put for our last walk. Before leaving we took the rubbish from the garage, that we had piled up when we cleaned the garage on Saturday, up to the gate for collection by the Municipality. There was an old rug and two beach loungers amongst the stuff but they didn't last long, the scavengers were soon there and off they went.

 

We walked over to Abingdon then along Crain and Miller roads to the bridge over the Durban Rd. once across we walked towards the bowling club and once over the railway took the road on the other side back. It was over the track again and when we reached the foot of Abingdon it was up the hill home. It was a good longer walk but Moira was suffering again with a very painful thigh.

 

After breakfast there was one last job to be done. The potholes in front of the garage had to be filled with the cold tar. I brushed out the dirt and leaves from the holes first then gave them a wash out with plenty of water. The weather was much better today with a cloudless blue sky and a very hot sun. I left the holes to dry off while I had a cup of tea. When they were nice and dry I began digging out the tar from the bag with a paint scraper tool. It was quite sticky and solid and required some effort to get it out and into the holes. I filled them about an inch proud then hammered the tar down level with a heavy metal mallet. At the end it was worth the effort as it looks good and hopefully will stay in place for some time.

 

There wasn't any food left now in the house so we decided to dine out today. We didn't want to go out at night and be late so settle on a good lunch and sandwiches for our evening meal. The restaurant we picked was the 'Captain's Table' on the beach at Southport. We had been there a number of years ago and it was quite good. We left at 1 pm and drove there. There were a few cars parked outside but when went into the bar it was deserted. I asked the barman for the restaurant and he directed us next door which had plenty of tables but also deserted. The barman pointed to the toilets in the corner, he though I had asked for the 'rest rooms'. It turned out that the restaurant was closed on a Monday. Instead we headed back to Port Shepstone and the large Spar supermarket at Harbour View which also had a restaurant that we were sure would be open.

 

We sat a the window and got a view of the sea and lots of different birds flying about. We both had the rump steak with an egg on top and chips. There was also a beer to wash it down and it only coat R120 (£6). When we left went to the Oribi Plaza, first to the small hardware shop where I got a container of caustic soda for putting down the drain in the shower which is tending to block. The next stop was the biltong shop for some dried wors to take back for Suzy, her favourite; the same shop also did photocopying and Moira got a copy of her ID book to enable Alison to pick up her driving licence when its ready. The final stop before heading home was the medical centre and Rekha Sugudhav to pick up my old hearing aids that were to have been returned from the repairers. They hadn't come back yet and Moira told her to hang on to them and we would get them at the end of the year when we return.

 

When we got home I put the recommended quantity of the caustic soda down the shower drain. I left it for 10 minutes then it said to pour hot water down the drain. I did this from the kettle and the reaction with the soda caused it to splutter and boil. I did it gently, a little water at a time until the violent reaction stopped. Now I left it overnight hopefully to clean out any grease that is causing the blockage.

 

Moira had done most of our packing, there wasn't much to do as we travel light. She also cleared the ornaments and books from the shelves on the wall units. The ornaments she stored in boxes but I got on a chair and stacked the books neatly on the top shelf of a wardrobe. I reckoned that it wasn't a good idea having stuff on display and tempting people to rob us.

 

We were at a bit of a loss with the cycling finished and had to settle for an evening of quizzes on the TV. We had our light meal of sandwiches for our dinner. Later before going to bed there was the PG Wodehouse comedy 'Blandings' which was quite good.

 

 

 

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The final day of the 'Tour de France'

Sunday 26 July.

 

The rain stayed on during the night and it was till coming down when we wakened, so we gave the walking a miss. We lay in bed for about an hour reading the newspaper. Moira got up first and had her shower then while I was shaving and washing she made the breakfast. She was using up the food we had in the fridge and freezer before we leave on Tuesday, so we had two sausages each with our normal 'full English' to finish them off.

 

After I cleaned up the dishes the only job I still had to do in the house was on the tiles and I mixed up some cement to use as grouting. There was the tiles I had laid at the bathroom door to do, also I cut away some of the grout that was cracked between some of the tiles. Moira rubbed the cement in between the tiles and then cleaned them up. There are still a few tiles that are creaking or sounding hollow which we will deal with when we come out again at the end of the year, but it looks a lot better than when we arrived two months ago.

 

We spent the rest of the morning reading the paper and relaxing with a cup of tea. Moira made soup for lunch today and we had it with a French type baguette that she crusted up in the oven. I checked the time for the final stage of the 'Tour de France', the procession in to Paris. It was listed at 4 pm which seemed to me to be later than normal unless they were just showing the final 10 laps round the Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe. I settled to watching the Hungarian Gran Prix until the cycling started. They had just started their warm-up lap when the power went off again. Moira had gone down to see Pat in the bottom house to say cheerio before we leave and I was left in on my own. I spent the two hours until the power was restored working on the 'Telegraph' crossroad which I managed to compete.

 

 

 

When the TV did tune in again it turned out that the cycling hadn't started. They were starting in Paris this year, going round the outskirts and suburbs for 40 km then arriving in the centre for the serious 10 final laps. Earlier in the afternoon there had been a woman's race as a build up and to keep the waiting crowds amused. Unfortunately the weather was dreadful with torrential rain and they were skidding and falling off their bikes as they did the laps by the Champs Elysees. When the men started it was still raining and it was decided that it was too dangerous and that the final times would be taken when they crossed the 'finish line' at the start of their first lap. The leaders, like Froome, Quintana, Valverde and Sagan, still had to complete the full course i.e. the full 10 laps but they could ride at the back and keep out of trouble. The sprinters were still going to race flat out so I couldn't understand how the changes helped them in riding safely.

 

 

In the end when they did get going it was an anti-climax. They more or less trundled along together behind a safely car for the whole 40 km until they came to the time point on the Champs Elysees. The riders spent the time chatting to one another and posing for photographs. When they got to the Champs Elysees they still took it easy for the first two laps with the Sky team casually leading the way. After that it got a bit more interesting with a few breaks from the peleton and the speed picking up. It only got exciting on the last lap as the sprinter's teams started to form into lines to lead out their fast men. In the end it was the German Griepel who won again, his fourth stage win. Cavendish finished eighth, it hasn't been his year or maybe he is getting old, I think sprinting is a young man's game.

 

We continued watching afterwards with the presentation of all the awards. For some reason George Osbourne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer got in on the act and made the presentation to Froome. I can't understand why they are so desperate to claim Froome as being British when he was born in Kenya, educated in South Africa and now lives in Monaco.

 

The last part of this year's 'Tour' didn't finish until 8 am. We listened to the radio until 'Call the Midwife' came on BBC Entertainment. It was another that we had seen before but it was good. Off to bed again at 10 pm as normal.

 

 

 

 

 

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Power cut just after start of 'Tour'

Saturday 25 July.

 

It was out for a walk again first thing this morning. We went straight along Ibis Rd intending to turn down Foxon Rd. but when we reached the turning there was another road to the left, Kiepersol Lane. I had never been along there in all the times and routes I had run here over the years so we decided to see where it led to. The tarred surface went for about 150 metres then became grass but there wasn't any path from there we could take so turned back. As we came to Foxon Rd to continue on our previous planned route it began to rain. It wasn't bad at first but soon it became quite heavy. We walked down to Stapleton Rd and crossed over to Russell Mellick Rd and round to Crain Rd then Abingdon and home. It was a good walk and we felt like going further this morning but the rain put us off.

 

We weren't too wet when we got in, but got out off our damp clothes and Moira showered while I made the breakfast. After I had tidied up in the kitchen we both started clearing out the garage. We made a pile of the junk that is to go for rubbish on Monday then packed what we wanted to keep on the shelves and along the sides of the walls. We finished by giving the place a good brush out. It now looks all right and everything is neat and tidy.

 

My next job was to repair chips in the tiles. I mixed up some Prattley Putty and filled in all the chips or breaks I could find. It didn't take much to fill them in and I had quite a bit of the putty left over. I used it to fill in a gap between the front door frame and the wall. After that it was time to relax. I made a cup of tea and worked on the prize crossroad in the 'Telegraph'. I managed to finish and submit it, one of these days I'll win the prize. The rain of earlier when we walked had gone off but later in the morning it clouded over again and started to pour. That settled any thought of playing bowls, anyway I wanted to watch the final day of the 'Tour' in the alps.

 

After lunch it was time to settle down for the 'Tour'. This was the final serious day's racing. It was still in the Alps and the finish was at the mountain top ski resort of Alpe d'Huez with its 21 hairpin bends snaking all the way up. They were showing the full stage on TV this time and as they set off it was along a downhill section for 25 km before reaching the first climb, Col de la Croix de Fer, an 'out of category' ascent to 2067 metres. Unfortunately we didn't see any of these early parts as our electric power was cut not long after the start. I hoped it would be back on after an hour and we wouldn't miss much, so I sat and read the newspaper on my iPad. At 3 pm it didn't come on and it was another hour to wait and hope. It came on at 4 pm, that was a 2 hour cut and I couldn't even make a cup of coffee to keep me going. For the time we were out of power we could have managed a game of bowls, if the weather had been better. When we come out to South Africa again a priority will be to have at least a little 'Camping Gaz' stove to make a hot drink during these outages.

 

Whatever happened before in the race we were now back just at the exciting part. They were on the slopes of Alpe d'Huez and all the leading contenders were still together. There was about 9 km to the finish and Valverde made a break and Froome let him go only to see a few minutes later Quintana shoot forward. He now caught his team mate Valverde who paced him clear of the chasers. When Valverde tired Quintana pushed on and caught up with another Moviestar team mate who had been in an earlier breakaway and was waiting to help Quintana. They raced around the screaming crowds at Dutch corner where they were lucky to find a narrow gap to make their way through. Shortly after the crowds the road widened out and Quintana left his helper and pushed on in pursuit of the now lone leader, the Frenchman Pinot. He had had about 2.5 minutes lead when Quintana made his initial break but it was too much to make up on the ferocious climb and Quintana got second place 17 second behind. Further back Froome didn't panic but kept a steady controlled cadence behind a couple of his lieutenants. He had 2.5 minute lead on Quintana at the start of the day and could afford to lose some of it. In the end he lost 1.5 minutes so still leads the race by a minute and tomorrow being a ceremonial ride into Paris he has won this year's 'Tour de France'. He also won the polka dot jersey for the 'King of the Mountains' due to his finishing position on the 'Alpe'

 

When the cycling was over we had dinner then listened to the radio until 8 pm when the detective 'Lewis' came on. This was the second and concluding part of the one we watched last Saturday. It was quite good and we didn't have any loss of reception tonight when it was reaching the climax. We listened to the radio for an hour before getting to bed at our usual time.

 

 

 

 

 

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More painting and cycling.

Friday 24 July.

 

We went for a walk again this morning before breakfast. It was a nice cool morning and lovely for walking. We made our way down the hill via Abingdon and at the supermarket turned along Link Rd that runs parallel to the main Durban Rd. When we reached the end at the junction with the P68 we turned left and made our way up the hill to the turning with Ibis and home. Although the P68 was a busy road I don't think it's as dangerous as some of the narrow quieter minor roads where even though you are going on the left hand side into the traffic, the cars coming from behind can get very close. But on the P68 it is wide and there is a small hard shoulder that keeps you safely away from the oncoming traffic. Moira was managing a lot better today and she had no problem keeping up with me on some of the long steep hills.

 

When we got back I made the breakfast then washed up the dishes. Next it was into my working togs and more painting. The job today was the surrounds at the front of the garage. There was a lot of high areas, about 3 metres, and I had to get up the ladder to reach them. This meant Moira was tied up holding the ladder. I went on to some even higher bits, the ridges running down the sides of the ends of the roof, that were badly marked and stained. For these Moira fitted the handle of the roller into a broom shaft. This enabled me to get to some of the awkward places with the paint. At the end I used up any paint that was left in the tray by brushing it into some patchy places along the bottom of the gable facing the drive. When finished and after cleaning up I was very pleased with the effect and it is looking very nice. It was then time to shower, change and relax with a cup of tea before lunch.

 

Moira found another fault with the work that was done yesterday. It wasn't the gate but the drop bars that they fitted to the back door. The bracket at one side was snagging on the door and she couldn't get it open. As I predicted there was no sign of him this morning and Moira phoned or texted him every hour until she eventual got a reply. The same as yesterday they arrived as I was settled down watching the 'Tour'. The noise wasn't too bad this time as he just had to remove the bracket and grind off the oversize that was obstructing the door. Next he put epoxy cement over the bolt heads. When the cycling was finished I had a look and the epoxy was just dolloped on. We set to work on it and spread it more evenly with a knife and wiped the excess away with a damp cloth. It look a lot better but still a bit shabby. Hopefully it will do the job it's intend for, to keep out burglars.

 

Back at the cycling Nibali showed how he won last year by soloing to victory on top of La Toussuire on stage 19, while Quintana kept himself in contention in the battle for the yellow jersey by snatching back 30 seconds from Froome when he danced clear on the final ascent to the line.

The third of four successive stages in the Alps was to prove Froome’s most trying day of the Tour to date, and he was under pressure from the start. An early onslaught from Movistar, Tinkoff-Saxo and Astana on the opening climb, the Col du Chaussy, left Froome largely isolated, and though his Sky guard regrouped in the valley that followed, it was a sign of things to come.

 

Froome’s teammate Thomas, fourth in the GC as the day began, struggled on the Col de la Croix de Fer and ended up losing more than 22 minutes to slip to 15th overall. Six kilometres from the summit, Froome himself was placed on the back foot when he had to stop after a stone lodged in his rear brake, prompting Nibali – who turned twice to look at Froome – to take advantage and shoot off with some 62 kilometres still to race, after his Astana team had laid the groundwork on the lower slopes. Nibali denied that he had attacked expressly because Froome was in difficulty, though the yellow jersey saw the incident differently.

 

"He did see what he was doing, I’m pretty sure he looked around, saw I was in trouble and attacked. In my opinion you don’t do that to the race leader, it’s not sportsmanlike," Froome complained afterwards.

 

Nibali closed to within a minute of earlier escapee Rolland by the summit of the Croix de Fer and had more than 50 seconds in hand on the yellow jersey group, and he continued to gain time on the long, sinuous descent that followed. He eventually caught Rolland just over the top of the penultimate ascent, the Col de Mollard, where they had an advantage of 1:47 on the Froome-Quintana group. Despite a scare on a tight right-hand bend midway down the descent, Nibali and Rolland reached the base of La Toussuire with that buffer largely intact. With 16 kilometres of climbing remaining, last year’s Tour winner lifted himself from the saddle and eased clear of Rolland, never to be seen again.

 

With a shade under six kilometres remaining, Quintana finally sensed his opportunity and jumped clear of the yellow jersey group. Froome was quick to marshal a response, first attempting to close the gap with Contador and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) on his wheel, before then proceeding to give chase alone. Initially, at least, Froome succeeded in limiting his losses well, keeping Quintana’s lead pegged at around the 15-second mark, but the relentlessness of the Colombian’s rhythm began to tell in the final three kilometres, as he nudged his advantage out towards the 30-second mark.

 

Quintana crossed the line in second place, 44 seconds down, while Froome came home in third, 1:14 behind. The Briton had the consolation of putting more than a minute into Contador and Valverde, who finished together, 2:26 down, and he declared himself pleased to have limited the damage.

After dinner tonight we listened to the Country Music Channel on the radio until 8 pm when the courtroom drama 'Silk' came on TV. It was coming to a climax in the story when the picture started to break up before it was lost all together. It came back for a couple of minutes before disappearing again. We gave up when it was due to finish and returned to the radio, the reception there was normal. It was disappointing as we don't know what the outcome was. Maybe when we return to Scotland the series will be repeated and we can find out what happened.

 

 

 

 

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House painting and security gate fitted.

Thursday 23 July.

 

 

The weather was nice this morning and we got out for a walk before breakfast. We went round by Edinburgh to Park Rd and down to Norman Av then when we reached Old Faith Rd headed down to the Spar supermarket. We stopped there to pick up the local newspaper before heading up the hill home. It was a good walk and Moira is beginning to move better and isn't feeling so much pain now that she is rubbing 'Deep Heat' into her thighs and calfs.

 

We didn't bother to shower until later, I was going to do some more painting, this time the front of the house. The man who was making the security gate for us was supposed to come this morning to fit it. He was supposed to come on Monday, then yesterday now Moira kept phoning and texting him until we got a definite time. It wasn't quite definite as it was meant to be this morning but he didn't turn up until the afternoon when I was busy watching the 'Tour'.

 

I didn't try to ladle the paint from the heavy 20 litre container into the roller tray, it was a messy process yesterday, but just dipped the roller into the top of the tub. I used the tray to run the roller back and forward to spread the paint evenly. I laid out old curtains on the stoop to prevent any paint drips getting on the tiles. It was a bit awkward painting where the creeper was growing over the awning and up the top of the wall. I had to use the ladder to get up to the edging that slopes down from the roof and Moira held it steady for me. It turned out actually to be quite an easy job and the paint went on nicely and covered any marks and stains on the wall. It took me about 2 hours to finish along the front of the house. It is looking very bright and clean.

 

We showered after I had cleaned the paint brush and Moira stored the roller in the tray with some water. After I was cleaned and dressed I relaxed with a cup of tea and worked on the 'Telegraph' crossword, successfully. After lunch I put on the TV for the cycling. I was enjoying it for an hour until the guy arrived with his two helpers and the new gate and began to install it. It was now noisy with their drilling, grinding and hammering; I couldn't hear the race commentary. I think the guy was a bit of a 'cowboy' and didn't measure the job properly. He had to remove the 'skirting board' tiles to get the gate to open properly and even at that it didn't open fully but fouled on the wall. Another thing was that the hinges looked a bit skew. He said he was coming back tomorrow to put epoxy cement on the bolt heads to prevent anybody removing them. He said he will be here at 10 am but on past performance I shan't be holding my breath for him arriving then.

The second day in the Alps took the riders 186.5km from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. The Frenchman, Bardet, attacked from a break just shy of the summit of the 'Cat 1' Col du Glandon and carved out an advantage in style on the way down the mountain before holding his lead over the Lacets de Montvernier and the 10 subsequent kilometres to the line.

 

Compatriot Rolland (Europcar) set off in pursuit after cresting the picturesque Lacets, or shoelaces, which were making their first appearance in the Tour, but he couldn’t gain any ground. Anacona (Movistar) took third from the fragments of what had once been a 29-rider breakaway. It is a debut Tour de France stage win for Bardet, for whom the icing on the cake was to move into the top 10 on GC.

 

Whereas the pressure was on Chris Froome right from the start of yesterday’s stage, today it wasn't until the Col du Glandon, that he was really tested. The outcome, though, was the same; he would not be shaken and moved one step closer to Paris, and his lead remains at 3:10 over Quintana (Movistar).

 

It looked like Team Sky would exert their characteristic control all the way up the Glandon but Contador lit things up with an attack that saw him go clear and link up with a group up the road. Nibali made an attack of his own near the top of the climb and while the yellow jersey group thinned, Froome himself remained in contact, and they caught Contador on the descent. Nibali tried again on the Lacets but Quintana, who stands the most realistic chance of overhauling Froome, was fairly inactive given the dwindling kilometres he has to cancel out a hefty deficit. With the top of the GC unchanged, gruelling summit finishes at La Toussuire and Alpe d’Huez on the next two stages are where the attacks will have to be made.

 

After the cycling Moira made the dinner, no power cuts tonight. We watched the early evening quizzes on TV then I put on the Freeview recorder for something different to watch. There was an old film 'The Corn is Green' starring Katherine Hepburn about a woman setting up a school in a mining community in Wales and discovering a genius who wins a scholarship to Oxford. After that I put on a murder mystery, 'Hidden Remains', only to find when it 'finished' that there was a second part. Unfortunately I hadn't recorded it, and it was very good as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The 'Tour' has reached the Alps.

Wednesday 22 July.

 

 

It was still raining this morning when we wakened so we didn't venture out for a walk. The data allowance we had for the internet ran out so we couldn't get the newspaper first thing. I read and finished my book instead. After breakfast Moira went to Vodacom in Port Shepstone to get another couple of Gigs for the internet. While she was out I cut round the grouting on a couple of tiles outside the bathroom door. They then lifted easily and I began to chip away at the cement. This time it came away a bit easier and by the time Moira got back I had cleared about a third. I worked on it in spells throughout the morning and had it cleared and ready to relay the tiles mid-afternoon.

Now we had internet it was possible to get the 'Telegraph' downloaded. I read it in between spells of cement chipping. Last week Moira had left my hearing aids with the woman at the Medical Centre for servicing. The report was that they were obsolete and expensive to repair. Moira phoned her this morning and arranged to go in at mid-day to find out what options we had. She forgot about going bowling when she made the appointment and if we wanted to play it would be a rush. When we looked at the weather we decided to give the bowls a miss. It had been raining on and off most of the morning then cleared up. But now close to lunchtime the clouds were dark and it didn't look very good. It tuned out to be the right decision as it got very dark early afternoon and then there was heavy rain again, certainly not a day for playing bowls.

Before lunch we went to the hearing centre and spoke to, Rekha Sugudhav, the Clinical Audiologist about hearing aids. She said the technology had advanced leaps and bounds since I got mine. They were at different performance levels and prices. The cheapest at R12000 each wasn't much good under noisy conditions, at R2000 it was much better and for R34000 you would be able to hear clearly in any conditions. When I got mine about 10 years ago they were R12000 each but the exchange rate at the time was R10 to £1. So maybe the prices aren't too bad and depending also on how much the Medical Aid pay towards the cost. We decided that to leave it until we come out again and also enquire what we can get in the UK under the NHS.

When we got home it was time for lunch and soon after the cycling began on the TV. It was now in the mountains of the French Alps after their rest day. Sky's Chris Froome remains the GC leader after holding off several attacks by second-placed Quintana while Germany's Simon Geschke won in Pra Loup.

Giant's Geschke had broken free with 50km left of the 161km stage. Earlier, the American van Garderen, third in the GC, was forced to retire, he was struggling well behind the peleton. In an aggressive start to the race he was dropped on the first climb of the day, the category 3 Col des Lèques, suffering with illness. While he did regain contact, the pace picked up again on the Col de la Colle Saint-Michel, the third climb of the day, and soon the BMC team car ground to a halt and van Garderen unclipped, climbed aboard, out of the Tour.

 

Geschke attacked from a large but splintering breakaway just before the foot of the category 1 Col d’Allos, before holding his lead down the mountain and up the short final climb to Pra Loup. Talansky (Cannondale-Garmin) gave chase but it was ultimately in vain, while Rigoberto Urán came home third.

There was plenty of action in the yellow jersey group and while Froome defended his lead over Quintana, and Contador lost over two minutes after crashing on the descent of Allos, and dropped to fifth overall behind Geraint Thomas (Sky).

Pra Loup is symbolic for being the scene of the downfall of the great Eddy Merckx. In the 1975 Tour, the five-time Tour de France winner was in yellow and in the lead on the descent of the Col d’Allos but was overhauled on the final climb to Pra Loup by Bernard Thévenet, who took yellow and went onto to win the race. Merckx wouldn’t wear yellow or win a Grand Tour again and Thévenet wrote himself into cycling folklore as the Tombeur de Merckx – the man who brought Merckx down.

Contador might still be in the race but his general classification ambitions were dealt an equally fatal blow. The Spaniard, part of a select group than included Froome, Quintana, Nibali, and Valverde, crashed on the descent of the Col d’Allos and finished 2:17 down on Froome. He is now 6:40 back on GC and his already faint hopes of pulling off the Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double have all but disappeared from sight.

During the cycling when there wasn't much action I mixed up some cement and laid the tiles in the sections I had cleared. I mixed up more cement than I needed and Moira used the extra to grout between the tiles I had previously laid. We also cut away the grout that was loose round some tiles and re-grouted them. When the cycling was over we had dinner then watched the quizzes until about 8 pm. After that there wasn't anything on TV we wanted to watch. I worked on a crossword, not successfully, then read until until bedtime. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow as I want to do more painting on the outside walls of the house.

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy