Meeting with SARS.

Tuesday 21 July.

 

It was out for a walk after having a cup of tea and read of the newspaper in bed for half an hour. We went up to Edinburgh Rd then before reaching Old Faith we turned down Park Rd. a bit down the hill we took a right turn on to Norman Av which led us to further down Old Faith. Before reaching the Spar supermarket we turned up past the tennis club, all the way to Edinburgh Rd again and home. It was another good hour walk but going down Old Faith Moira was suffering from sore thigh muscles. Later near the end the pain was easing, she probably still has to get used to the change in her stride pattern created by her new orthotics.

 

After breakfast we didn't bother showering as I wanted to jet clean more of the outside of the house. We took the hose through the garage this time and I did the front and the side of the house. We finished off by hooking up the hose at the back of the house and I did the section of the walls there that I had missed previously. It is all looking quite good now with most of the marks removed. There were places where the jet was too strong and stripped off bits of paint. I will fill these places with ployfilla when I get some and also in some places were there are stains I will give a coat of paint. The weather was beautiful and very warm. We got our seats out on the stoop and read for a while with a cup of tea.

 

After relaxing for half an hour I began cleaning the woodwork on the small front bedroom window. When it was dry I gave it a coat of varnish. It was so warm now that I had my t-shirt off to get a bit of a tan before returning to Scotland. When I finished the window it was time for our showers now that the dirty work was finished. After that we sat out in the sun again until lunchtime.

 

We set out for the tax office in Port Shepstone for 2pm. It took a while to find the woman who helped us yesterday but eventually she appeared and gave us a numbered ticket for the woman who dealt with 'complex problems' which described our difficulties. We still had to wait for an hour as the woman had three people before us. I explained what was happening with my tax and the UK taxman. She more or less agreed that we weren't theoretically resident in SA over the period in question. I said that it had been suggested that I download a SARS form to claim back the tax I had paid here. She checked on the web and printed off two forms. One was to stop paying tax to SARS in future, the other was to claim a rebate of tax already paid. It isn't just a simple process of competing the forms as they have to be signed and stamped by the Inland Revenue in the UK and then posted back from there. The problem with that is the difficulties with the SA postal system which due to strikes and a back-log of post its not a system you can rely on. In the meantime I will wait until we get back to Scotland and phone the taxman to explain the situation and play it 'by ear'.

 

It was quite convenient dealing with SARS today as it was a rest day on the Tour de France, so we didn't miss anything. When we got back I returned to reading my book and have nearly finished it but still can't figure out who the murderer is! There was a power cut at 5pm, the first we have had for ages and it was lighted candles as it got dark outside. It only lasted an hour so Moira was able to get the dinner ready at a reasonable time. After dinner we watched the quizzes on TV then later listened to the Country Music channel until bedtime. The weather had changed early evening and it began to rain. It got very heavy and continued through the night.

 

 

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Dinner with Alison and Peter.

Monday 20 July.

 

When we got up and before our walk we took, in relays, all the empty boxes and rubbish that had accumulated in the garage,over the last few weeks. The garage is quite clear now and just needs tidying up before we leave. After all the walking up and down the drive we just had a short walk this morning. Up and round Bird Rd to the road that runs parallel and back to Ibis then home. About 15 minutes, Moira didn't want to go much further as her leg and thigh muscles were sore.

 

After breakfast I put on old shorts that I had used for painting years ago and began painting the gable end of the house. I didn't bother trying to get very high, just as far as I could stretch with the roller. The main thing was to paint along the bottom of the wall where it was badly marked and stained. Also I had to paint the end of the wall surrounding the patio which was very marked. It took just over an hour and is looking very much better. After cleaning up the brushes etc I had a shower.

 

Alison had sent us a text saying she was coming at 10 am with the information about the rent and expenses for when the house was let last year, for my SA tax purposes. She didn't appear but later we got another text inviting us for dinner this evening and no doubt we will get the info then.

 

After lunch we went to the SARS offices in Port Shepstone. The place was crowded with people waiting on rows of seats with their tax problems. We were going to wait in the queue at the information desk when a girl came up to us wearing an overall that said 'Information Agent' and asked if she could help. I explained our problems with the UK tax authorities and she said the woman who could help wasn't in today but to come back tomorrow at 2 pm and she would arrange a meeting. When we left we went to Glen Smit the management consultants offices, who look after Lourie Gardens, that were next door. The levy for our complex had increased after the recent AGM and Moira wanted details so she could alter the standing order at the bank. Once that business was complete we went to Pick-n-Pay for some shopping before heading home.

The cycling had over 100 km to go when the TV broadcast tied in with the race. There was a large breakaway of riders about 6 minutes ahead of the peleton but the main contenders weren't interested, the nearest one in the break was over 30 minutes behind Froome. So it looked like the peleton were having an easy day and let the gap gradually increase to nearly 20 minutes at the finish. At that point they were climbing the Col de Cabre and both groups worked together and there were no attacks. It changed on the final climb, Col de Manse, and the leading group started to disintegrate. One rider managed to break clear, Ruben Plaza of Lampre, and crossed the summit a minute in the lead. A pursuing group included the wearer of the green points jersey Peter Segan. He isn't a renowned climber but hung in with the others until they crested the hill then he shot off. He is seemingly fearless descending on twisting winding hairpins but couldn't make up the deficit on Plaza and came in second for about the fourth time. The attacks started in the main peleton when they reached Manse. It was Nibili who went over first and gained about 20 seconds on the others but he is too far back to make do any difference now. The Welshman in the Sky Team, Geraint Thomas had what looked like a nasty accident on one of the hairpins on the final descent. Another rider collided with him and he went off the edge of the road and down a steep drop after colliding with a telegraph pole. The TV didn't dwell on the incident and we thought that was him out of the race but he somehow recovered, got on his bike and a team mate paced him to the finish, he only lost a minute.

 

When the cycling was over I checked the golf. There was about three on 15 under par then a group at 14 including Spieth looking for his third Major in a row. The amateur Dunne was beginning to struggle and the pressure of leading the Open on the final day was getting to him. The leaders were only just after halfway when it was time for us to leave for dinner with Alison and her husband Peter. It was just down the drive to the other complex beside Ibis Rd., it was now dark and we had to use a torch to find our way. We had a good evening and got the breakdown of the income and expenses for the rental. Alison had discovered that there was a discrepancy in the figures and there was about R6500 put into a wrong account by Nedbank. This will be paid to us when the bank sort out what happened. I told Alison to pay us R5000 and the difference will be her fee for looking after the house until we return. We had a lovely meal, pork chops and chicken with peas and mashed potatoes. It was after 10 pm when we headed up the drive home after some chatting about the happenings in the complex and the crazy neighbours we have.

 

It was straight to bed when got in, it was a late night for us.

 

 

 

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Scottburgh Car Show

Sunday 19 July.

 

 

 

The South Coast Motor Club were meeting at the Spar carpark this morning to drive together up to the Scottburgh car show. We left the house at 7:30 am for our walk and to go via the Spar to see the cars before they left. We walked over to Abingdon and straight down the hill. A few open sports cars passed us on the way down. At the carpark there was a number of cars already there and more arriving.

South Coast Club's cars

The types varied from MG's and Triumphs to kit cars and old Ford and Vauxhall saloons. We walked around the parking area admiring them until they all left in a convoy at 8 am. We continued our walk and headed up Old Faith Rd home. It was a fairly easy climb at first then levelled out for a bit before hitting the long steep section. When I was running this steep section always reminded me of Poly Shorts, the famous Comrades' hill, as it wound its way up through the trees. I pushed on and when I reached the junction with Edinburgh Rd I turned to go back for Moira but she wasn't far behind and we stuck together home from there. It was a good route and a challenging hill to tackle.

 

When we got in Moira had her shower and I made the tea and toast. When Moira was finished she made the bacon, sausages and eggs while I worked on more cement chipping until the breakfast was ready. After I had washed up the dishes I had my shower then we got ready to go to Scottburgh. It had been cool again when we were walking but as we drove up the highway it began to get hot forcing me to turn on the air conditioning. I read my book while Moira drove up the road, there wasn't much traffic about.

 

The car show was in the High School grounds in Scottburgh. This was next to the golf course and along the road where we lived in the granny flat belonging to Bob and Pat for six months just after we retired. The carpark had a 'full' sign up and there were cars parked all along the verges on the adjacent streets. We found a place on the verge on the street opposite the gate into the golf course. It only cost us R10 each to get in, the pensioner's rate. The carpark was on the lower field and we had to make our way through the school grounds to the upper sport's field where the show was set up.

Scottburgh Car Show

We stopped at the beer tent and looked over the field, there were row and row of collector's cars all highly polished and in excellent condition even though a lot were about 50 years old. There were many tents and gazebos pitched on one side and selling various kinds of food. And as usual there was the public address system pumping out pop music. It's a curious thing that organisers of event seem to think that people can't survive without music blaring out!

Alex and his MG

Moira phoned Alex and he said he was in the beer tent that we were next to. We soon spotted him and he bought us drinks. We sat outside with a couple of friends of Alex from Jo'berg, another pair of 'petrol heads'. We sat now in the warm sunshine and refreshed ourselves with the cool drinks before starting to wander around the exhibits. It was very interesting and we saw nearly all the types of cars we have owned over the years; Austin A35, Ford Cortina, Ford Capri, Ford Anglia, Morris 1100 and Land Rover. There was lots of sports cars and Alex had his MG on display. We saw a Morris Minor Traveller that was in immaculate condition, it was gleaming and the unique wooden surrounds on the back were varnished and shining. We chatted to the owner and he wanted to show of the engine before we moved on, it was spotless and glistening as well.

Gleaming MM Traveller

Next in line there were three white Morris Minor 1000s, and I was reminded of the times I drove the girls to school in the morning and we had a car spotting game. You got 10 for a VW Beetle, 100 for a white Beetle, a Minor 1000 was worth 1000 points but the very rare white Morris was ?? we never spotted one.

Three white MM 1000's

 

Later I sent a photograph of these cars to Suzy and Margaret to remind them. Once we had been round all the cars we looked at the food tents for lunch but there were long queues at them all. We decided to head down to the sea front and get something to eat there. Alex was hanging on at the show and to see his friends so we said our farewells and would see him at the end of the year again.

 

We picked up the car and drove down to the carpark at the beach. There used to be a restaurant there but it was now closed. There was a cafe that had a sign saying 'wors rolls' but when we asked for two found they were all finished! We drove up into the town and spotted a curry house. We stopped there shared a lamb and a chicken curry with a portion of rice and a naan bread. We had a wait while it was prepared and had a beer to keep us going. The curries weren't bad but had a lot of bones!

 

After our lunch we made our way back to 'Tweni and I read my book again as Moira drove. As we got home and I was tuning into the cycling on TV Suzy phoned on 'Face Time', she had been to Port Glasgow and picked up our mail. There was a letter from the income tax assessment department. The guy had received my letter about the places and countries we stayed over the past 10 years to determine where we were resident. He had decided that I wasn't resident in South Africa for the periods 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 but in the UK as each year I had spent more than 91 days there. He now says that I have to pay the full UK tax on my pension for these years, amounting to £6700 and to claim back from SARS what I paid in SA. I don't for a minute think that this will be easy. We spotted a SARS tax office in Port Shepstone on Saturday next to the 'Paint Pot' when we were looking for paint and will go there tomorrow and see what they say about the situation.

 

I settled down after the call from Suzy to watch the cycling but couldn't concentrate on it as my mind was turning over the tax problems what to do about them. When the 'Tour' did catch my attention they had gone over the small climb of Cote de l'Escrinet and Cavendish who was not in the best of health and other injured riders were left, they came in 9 minutes after the main bunch finished the day. Cavendish must have been disappointed as this stage was the last one for the sprinters before arriving in Paris. There had been a few breaks earlier but they only managed a couple of minutes advantage before being caught. All the teams were together for the final 30 km of flat cycling into Valence and the bunch sprint with Greipel winning for the third time.

 

During the adverts early in the cycling I checked on the other sport's channel for the cricket score. England were in again chasing 508 after Australia had declared at 254/2 . England weren't making a very good job of the chase and were on 25/2. After the cycling I turned over again but there wasn't any cricket to watch, England were all out for a miserable 103 and came no where near saving to the match. I moved quickly to the golf. The weather had improved and the players were hitting lots of sub-par scores in the calm sunny conditions. The interesting thing was the joints leader with the South African, Oosthuizen, and the Australian, Day, was an amateur from Ireland, Dunne. They were all at 12 under going into the final day. An amateur hasn't won the Open since Bobby Jones in the 1920's. The other player only a shot behind was the American Spieth who has won the Masters and the US Open already this year. Another record if he wins his third Major in a row.

 

We just had a light snack this evening as we had a big lunch at the curry house. Later I read my book until 'Call the Midwife' came on BBC Entertainment later. It was another that we had seen some time ago but it was enjoyable to watch again

 

 

 

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Lunch with Alex at 'Fish on the River'

Saturday 18 July.

 

It was out for a walk again this morning before breakfast. We went round Edinburgh Rd and down the hill to Norwood which was a new road for us to take to the Spar supermarket. We went over the main road and along Commercial Rd to the bridge crossing the main road then went all the way back up the hill via Miller and Abingdon home. It was a good walk and there are always hills to keep us fit. It had been about an hour's walk when we got back and we met Steve on his way out for a walk. He told us that he played a bowls competition at 'Tweni yesterday and they had all kinds of weather, cold at the start, then rain and warm by the afternoon. The weather today was cold when we were walking but it was beginning to heat up and looked promising for a beautiful day.

 

Alex was down at Scottburgh for the car show and was staying at the Blue Marlin hotel there. He said he might come down to visit us but we hadn't heard from him and we wanted to go this morning out to buy paint. Moira called him on the phone and he said he was on his way to 'Twini but that we had time before he got there to go out for the paint. We went out straight away and checked at the 'Paint Pot' in Port Shepstone first, but they were too expensive. Instead we went up to the Builder's Merchants next to the tile warehouse. They had a good selection and we got 20 litres of white matt finish and a roller for R700.

 

We came straight back after our purchases and soon Alex was phoning for us to open the gate into the complex. We had a cup of tea and sat and chatted until it was time to go out for lunch, we were going to Fish on the River. Alex had brought the 'fix-a-floor' tube of adhesive for fixing the hollow tiles. Unfortunately it needed a calking gun, like that used to apply silicone sealant, to apply the adhesive and we didn't have one. We decided to go to the little hardware store in the Oribi Plaza for a gun before heading on for lunch. The Plaza was busy but we got a parking spot near the entrance to the mall and we were in and out quickly and got the calking gun. The restaurant was quite busy and we had to park the car outside on the river bank. It was now very sunny and warm so we got a seat outside. We all had fish and chips and a beer. It was very nice and the fish, hake, is excellent.

Alex and Moira at 'Fish on the River'

 

When we got home again Alex didn't stay but headed back to Scottburgh. We will see him again tomorrow when we go to the car show. As soon as we got in I turned on the TV for the 'Tour' but didn't pay much attention as I wanted to try out the 'fix-a-floor'. I picked 3 tiles together that were hollow sounding and as instructed drilled holes in the middle of the edges through the grouting. I then stuck the nozzle of the tube into each hole in turn and pressed the trigger on the gun to inject the adhesive. I was to keep pressing until the hole filled or the adhesive came out some of the other holes. It didn't happen and the fluid just kept going in until the tube was empty. I put the tool box which is heavy on top of the tiles to apply some pressure overnight to help binding. I was somewhat disappointed as even if this is successful one tube at R200 to do three tiles will end up very expensive. I decided to go back to cutting through the grouting then lifting the tiles, chisel out the cement and relay. It is a long tedious job but a lot cheaper. I made a start on this and lifted two tiles after cutting the grout. I spent about 15 minute spells through the rest of the afternoon and evening chiselling away.

 

When I was able to sit and watch the cycling I saw there was a 20 man breakaway about 6 minutes ahead of the main peleton. They were on the climb up Cote de Sauveterre but nobody was attacking in either group. The main peleton with Sky setting the pace seemed happy to let the leading bunch have the race and made no serious attempts to reduce the gap. The real drama was left for the final short steep ascent to the Cote de la Croix Neuve. The front group began to disintegrate and two stronger climbers rode clear over the top. The finish was flat on an airfield and the two Frenchmen Berbet and Pinot seemed to have the race between them as they sprinted for the line. Suddenly from nowhere an Englishman from the Wirrel, Steve Cummings, came flying past them to claim the win. He was riding for the South African team MTN Qhubeka and it happened on Mandela Day! There was action in the main bunch on the same final hill. Quintana broke clear, Nibali followed and Froome appeared to have been left. But Froome slowly clawed his way back then Nibali struggled. Quintana and Froome finished together but the big loser was van Garderen who dropped from 2nd to 3rd place with Quintana leapfrogging him. Nibali and Contador also lost time to Valverde who moved up in the GC. The route today had been through the gorges of the river Tarn. This is the area of the Robert Louis Stevenson Walk part of which we did a few years ago. The scenery of the cliffs and gorge was truly magnificent.

Cliffs and gorge of River Tarn

 

After the cycling I checked on the cricket. England hadn't done too badly and were all out for 312. Australia were now in for there second innings and doing well again. At close they were 108 without loss. England are now 362 behind and will be doing well if they can salvage anything from this match. Next I turned over for the golf and it was a bit confusing as there were still golfers who were well over par that should have missed the cut. It turned out that play was stopped in the morning with the ones still trying to complete their second round matches from yesterday. There was tremendous winds and the balls wouldn't remain in place on the greens for putting. The weather had cleared up later and they were out again still attempting to complete the second rounds. All the third round matches will be played tomorrow and the Open extended for the final day to Monday. It was difficult to figure out who was in the lead.

 

Later in the evening there was one in the Oxford detective series 'Lewis'. It was on at 9 pm and finished at 10 pm which was strange as this programme was usually 2 hours long. It turned out that it has been split in two but there was no indication when the second half was to be broadcast. It was quite good and surprisingly we hadn't seen it before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pressure cleaning outside walls

Friday 17 July.

 

We didn't go for a walk this morning but stayed in bed with our cup of tea and read the newspaper. Moira wanted to tidy up the house now all the boxes had gone and she could vacuum and wash the floors. I wanted to finish off clearing the cement from where the tiles were that I had lifted in the lounge, then relay them. After that we planned to pressure wash the gable wall of the house that was very marked and dirty.

 

After breakfast while Moira was doing her house work I finished off the chipping. I mixed up what I thought was enough cement to do the lounge and back bedroom tiles. It turned out there was only enough for the two tiles in the lounge and I had to mix up the same again for the bedroom ones. The tiles are looking very good and feel solid underneath. There was a little cement left and Moira used it to grout the tile I had laid in the bathroom a couple of days ago. We will leave the tiles I laid this morning for a few days to settle before grouting them.

 

When Moira had completed the house work I got the pressure washer set up and we began work on the gable end. The end of the small wall around the patio was badly stained with algae and even the violent spraying wouldn't clean it. We got some water and 'Handy Andy' with a scubbing brush and Moira scrubbed before I gave it another power spray. It was still badly marked and I am going to have to get some paint to make it look better. The main gable wall cleaned up not badly except for about a foot along the bottom that was badly marked, it will need painting as well. We had a lot of problems with the cleaner, the hose kept coming off with the pressure, it looks like we need to get a new connector for the hose to the instrument. Another problem we have is that in places the painting isn't very good and the jet just strips it off leaving the bare wall underneath. We have decided to buy some paint and touch up the bad parts next week.

 

After cleaning the machine and storing it away Moira hosed me down to get rid of the grit and dirt form my arms and legs. Then we had our showers and into clean dry clothes. It was then lunchtime and I turned on the TV for the cricket latest. Australia were still doing well though they had lost another couple of wickets in the morning session. They were about 430/3 at their lunch break. I turned over for the cycling at the cricket interval.

 

From the race profile for the 198.5 km from Muret to Rodez it shows another hilly stage that wasn't of any interest to the sprinters. There was a breakaway of 6 riders when the TV joined the race and they were in the process of climbing the Cote de Saint-Cirgue. The peleton was about 4 minutes behind and all staying together. Once over the top of the Cote the breakaway split and 3 riders broke clear. The peleton slowly pegged back their lead but it was very close and it was only on the final 600 m uphill to the finish when they were caught. The winner was the BMC Belgian cyclist Greg van Avermaet who out-sprinted the holder of the green jersey Peter Segan. The leaders positions remained the same.

 

As soon as the cycling was finished I switched over to the cricket. Australia had declared on 566/8 and put England in to bat for the last session after tea. They were on 26/1 when I began watching then lost another three quick wickets with very little addition to their total. Cook, the captain, was still in and playing sensibly and not taking any chances and survived with Stokes at close of play without losing another wicket. They had scored only 85 runs, they will be lucky if they manage to salvage a draw.

 

After dinner I change the sport to golf. The weather at St Andrews was bad with strong winds and rain. The play was delayed and some of the second round matches were held-over to finish tomorrow. After the sport was finished we watched the courtroom drama 'Silk', another in the series we haven't seen before. It was all right but its turning into a bit of a soap and the story line continues from week to week. Hopefully there will be some conclusion next week before we leave for Scotland.

 

 

 

 

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Removal of personal items to Scotland.

Thursday 16 July.

 

It was out for a walk again this morning before breakfast. We went up round Bird Rd to Old Faith Rd then followed it all the way up to the P68 main road that comes up from the Durban Rd., fortunately the P68 wasn't too busy but we kept safe by walking close to the side on the small hard shoulder. It wasn't far to the turning into Ibis Rd and then straight back along it home. It was another good walk and every day Moira is getting stronger and stronger. It was about 45 minutes today again with some nice hills to negotiate.

 

I made the breakfast as soon as I got in while Moira had her shower. The truck from Stuttaford's arrived at 9 am as expected and the two men got straight into packing everything into their boxes. I had my shower while they were busy. When I finished and came through Steve had come round to see us about the truck parked in the driveway. Shiela, the evil bitch, opposite had phoned him in his capacity as Head of the Body Corporate to complain about it. We couldn't think what her problem was as there was plenty of room to get past if she wanted out. Steve seemed to be embarrassed about it but I thought he should have told that woman to get lost and if she had a problem to come to us herself. She seems to have everyone running to her beck and call but knows that if she had come to us to complain she would have been told in no uncertain terms where to go. They only took an hour to pack the boxes and load them into the truck so I don't know what her gripe was.

 

After they left we went out to the tile warehouse in Port Shepstone. I took part of a tile that I had lifted to find out if they still had them as the box of replacements we have only has about 10 in it. Unfortunately they were an obsolete company and style so we will have to hope the 'fix-a-floor' treatment that Alex is bringing down at the weekend works. While there we bought a bag of tile cement and a tool for cutting out the grouting between tiles. When we left there we went to the builder's merchants across the road. I had checked on the internet about getting tar to fill a couple of potholes in front of the garage. There was a article available called premixed Asphalt and I asked if they had this product. They called it 'cold tar' and I bought a bag, there will be more than enough in the bag to do the three small holes Moira is worried about.

 

When we got back I tried out the grout cutting tool on a tile in the lounge that had a large chip out of its corner. I ran the tool up and down the edges and it cleared the grouting very easily. As the last of it cleared the tile itself lifted in one piece. The tile next to it was one that was hollow underneath. I removed the grout around it and it lifted in one piece as well. If the tiles lift as easily as this I might be able to lift and reuse the ones that are giving the 'hollow' problem. I turned the TV on before lunch for the 2nd Ashes Test from Lords. Australia were batting and doing very well, just before the break they lost a stupid wicket but went in on 80/1, not bad. After lunch I spent spells throughout the afternoon chipping away at the hard adhesive. It seemed to be coming away a lot easier on these two spaces.

 

 

As soon as the cricket stopped for lunch I switched over for the cycling. The Tour was still in the mountains of the Pyrenees. It was a 195 km stage from Lannemezan to the Plateau de Beille. It was a series of climbs and descents, the three major ones were; Col de Portet 1069m, Col de la Core 1595m, and Port de Lors 1517m with a final climb of 18 km to another mountain top finish at 1780m on the Plateau de Beille. When the TV made its connection with the race there was about 100 km to go. There had been a large breakaway of 22 riders and even though they were 12 minutes ahead none of them were close enough in the GC to worry the main contenders. They were at that point climbing the Port de Lors and were beginning to split up as the ascent got tougher. Over the top there was a smaller break of three riders and they picked up a couple of minutes on the others. The peleton kept together and there weren't any challenges when they reached this hill. The weather now deteriorated with heavy rain and hailstones. It was so bad at times we lost transmission and I returned to chipping away the tile adhesive during these interludes. The trio that led over the top stayed ahead until the monster climb to the finish where they began to struggle. None of them were recognised climbers and Rodriguez of Katusha, a good climber, broke from the ones behind and soon caught and overtook the leaders to eventually win. Back in the peleton there were now plenty of challenges to Froome, in turn Contador, Nibali, Valverde and Quintana applied the pressure but each time Froome responded and stayed strong. The only one happy to just hang-in without threatening was the American, van Garderen who is second at the moment in the GC. In the end all the main contenders finished together 6 minutes down on the winner.

 

When the cycling was over I switched to the cricket again. England weren't doing well and hadn't taken any more wickets since the lunch break. Australia finished the day on 337/1. There was also the Open Golf Championship from St Andrews. I watched to that until the comedy 'Open All Hours' came on BBC. Later there was 'Call the Midwife' but it was the one we watched last Sunday. I read my book instead before getting to bed.

 

 

 

 

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Good day bowling and warmer weather.

Wednesday 14 July.

 

Another walk this morning before breakfast. The weather was looking a lot better with the clouds having cleared and a nice blue sky; it was also feeling a lot warmer. We headed up to Edinburgh Rd then down the hill passed the Tennis Club to Mdoni Rd where we turned up the hill to Park then Old Faith before going down to Bird Rd and home. We were going at a brisk pace and when we reached Old Faith there was a couple of women walkers in front of us, we pushed to overtake them then left them far behind. It was about 3/4 hour today that we were out and wanted to make sure we got back for the woman from Stuttaford's with the forms to be signed.

 

I made the breakfast and then washed and tidied up the kitchen before she arrived. It didn't take long to get all the paper worked completed. I asked for an approximate time for delivery of the boxes in Scotland and she said about 3 months. As we will likely be away in Spain at that time I said that Suzanne would be at the house for it arriving. She said they would require an ID for Suzy before they would delivery it into her hands. She must be thinking that it was South Africa where they could easily delivery to the wrong house and the person would just accept it. They don't understand that our neighbours would take the stuff in if we weren't there or if the delivery people thought we were just at the shops they would leave all the boxes in the back garden and it would be safe enough.

 

Once she had gone Moira brought the t-shirts and other odds and ends through to the dining area and stacked it with the rest of the boxes. Everything was ready for collection tomorrow. While she was doing this I finished off clearing the adhesive from the tile spaces I had removed in the bathroom. It was all ready for laying a new tile. The little box of tile cement that we had bought I discovered was sufficient to lay only one tile. I mixed it with water and there was just enough and no more for the one tile. It seemed a fairly solid base once it was in place. It should be set by tomorrow morning.

 

It was an early lunch today before heading for Southport and the bowls. It was a big difference in the weather now, very warm and requiring only to wear our sport shirts and shorts. There weren't many at the club today, only enough for 2 rinks of trips and 2 of pairs. Moira and I were playing pairs but in different matches. I was lead and my skip was Bob. We won the first two ends but then the opposition came back and we didn't win another shot before the tea break. The tea must have helped as we made a come-back in the second half and won the match on the final end. It had been a close game all the way through and most ends were only won by the odd shot. I payed quite well and managed to get a couple of my bowls close to the jack each end. Moira's match was also close but she was on the losing side this time. I bought the other lead a drink while Moira got treated being on the losing side. We stayed for a half an hour and chatted over our drinks before getting home.

 

When we got in the cycling was in the final kilometres of today's stage so we waited until later to watch the highlights for the action and the result. After dinner we watched the usual early evening quizzes until 8 am when the cycling came on. The stage was again in the Pyrenees with more mountains for the riders to climb. The route was 188 km and started in Pau and finished in Cauterets. Cauterers was where we finished when we walked the first half of the GR 10. From there we caught a bus to Lourdes.

Lac de Gaube, Cauterets

 

 

The route went through Lourdes after leaving Pau then up the long climb over first the Col d'Aspin 1490m, next came the monster Col du Tourmalet 2115m followed by a steep twisting descent before the shorter final climb to the finish on the Cote de Cauterets 817m. I think this might be the route we took in the bus (the other way) to get to Lourdes. On the highlights programme they didn't show any of the early parts of the stage but moved to when they were tackling the climb up the Col du Tourmalet. There was a breakaway of 7 riders that was about 6 minutes ahead of the peleton but on the climb a Tinkoff-Saxo rider, Majka, broke away from the rest to cross the summit in the lead. The rest couldn't cut his lead on the fast descent, they were all going at the same speed, at times approaching 80 kph. At one point the leader had to avoid some cows that decided to cross the road at the same time.

 

He still had his advantage on the final ascent to the Cote de Cauterets and a comfortable win. In the main peleton there weren't any attacks on Froome and all the main contenders finished together. Except Nibili, last year's winner who was dropped on Tourmalet and is out of contention now. Tomorrow is the third and last day in the Pyrenees and there may be some challenges to the leader on the hills then.

 

It was nearly 10 pm when the cycling finished so it was straight to bed. The removal people from Stuttaford's come in the morning to pick up all the stuff we are sending back to Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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