Andy Burnham, the nothing

 

Andrew Lawrence says it so succinctly. 

Thank you for all the emails; keep them coming in time for the disappearance.

"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone". 

Private Blog access

 Please email me for the invitation link to the blog.  This will go live as soon as possible.  I will have Tour coverage as usual and the daily conversations.    My email address is accessed through this blog and is public so I don't need to publish it here.  Just click on the email link in the view complete profile link. 

As soon as I receive the email request from you the invitations will be sent.   (Please do not expect the invitation immediately by return though).   Many thanks and looking forward to seeing you. 

Thank you for the contacts I have had.  Please just email me your email addresses so I can send the invitation.  Thank you Simone, I got yours.  I am not publishing any comments on the subject.  

Stage 14

 I am only going to put the GC,  as at last night,  here this morning.  The stage 13 was good for British rider Tom Pidcock and saw him leaping up to 4th place in the GC.  

The stage was won by Swiss rider Mauro Schmid.  

1.  Pogacar  47h 18' 31"

2. Vingegaard      +3' 36"

3. Evenepoel  + 4' 06"

4. Pidcock  +4' 15"

5. Ayuso  +4' 22"

6. Seixas  +4' 35"

7.  Lipowitz  +4' 44"

8. Dell Toro +5' 08"

9. Skjelmose +5' 45"

10. Martinez +6' 34"

Stage 14 today is an unusual shape like a fish head with a tail and the riders will go around in a circle and cross the finish line once after 44 km and continue around the fish.  It is Mulhouse to Le Markstein Fellering.   It is a tough mountain stage of 155.3km and the finish is in the Vosges ski station.   Pogacar and Carapaz are high up in the betting for the stage win. 

I was busy yesterday and had the car brakes relined.  It is impossible to save money;   the news continues to be grim and Indian workers are to benefit if they come to England and will be cheap labour for British companies because of the latest Indian/British trade agreement reducing 5 years of NI contributions for Indian employees.   English unemployed will not be helped by this if employers can take an Indian for £5000 less per annum than one of us. 

The result of the Police Commission poll in Norfolk yesterday was Reform with the winning candidate and the Conservatives second.  The victory for Reform was resounding polling over 32,000 votes with the Conservatives nearest with 18,000 votes and Labour trailing after Greens and Independents.   The vacancy occurred because the Labour post holder stepped down, reason stated "for family reasons"  and went to Leeds and took another job.

In two by-elections for local council vacancies on Norfolk County Council,  also held yesterday, the Conservative candidates won both.  

Sadiq Khan has been made a peer to sit in the House of Lords. 

Britain is to send £153M aid money to Pakistan. 

Pakistan refuses to take back Pakistani  grooming gang manager and rapist and he must stay in Britain. 

Stage  14 result 

At the end there are two gruelling climbs on Col du Haag :

3.9 km at 9% gradient

1.6 km at 10% gradient. 

and then 7 kms to go to the end. 

A great stage win for Pogacar going out front to win and he launched his attack on the steepest bit I described above.   He is a great rider.  

He is now 4 minutes 30 seconds ahead of Vingegaard in the GC.

Pidcock dropped time and is now 9th in the GC, 7' 59" behind Pogacar.     The boy Seisax is now 4th and 5' 19" behind Pogacar.  

I hope you enjoy my Tour placings etc. and you learn a little about the great riders of today. 

The stage 15 is on Sunday, tomorrow.  Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison. In the Jura Mountains with a gruelling mountain climb. 183 km. difficult mountain stage towards the end.  11 km with an average of 9% gradient.    

(Don't forget to email me for the invitation to the blog when it will be private.) 

Basel

 As I said in last night's post, today is Stage 13 of the Tour.  I mention it again because it is so easy here to get the days muddled with posts appearing late and stage numbers confusing me so I write to remind myself as much as you.  

I said last night that I once went to Basel for a holiday.  I was with P at the time.  We went by Eurostar from London, stayed overnight in Paris, and travelled onwards to Basel on a train from the Gard De L'Est.  Our hotel was a two minute walk from the station. It was all very convenient.  We travelled in July as was the regular time for my two weeks annual leave before the schools broke up in England.  I would leave the school holidays to the two men in my office who had children and I would always take my break in the first two weeks of that month. 

I had a German client at the time who thought it most bizarre to take a holiday in Basel.  (I know Basel is in Switzerland but it is on the borders of where Germany meets Switzerland and France and she spoke of the city from knowledge of going there).  She was in fact quite dismissive of it even being a holiday destination.  I assured her that we would find lots to do and, of course, we did.   I had always wanted to visit the city since school days where the different spelllings and pronunciations had fascinated me.  Of course the different spellings are because of its proximity to Germany and France.  

Apart from being on the Rhine, where we spent many hours just sitting and watching the river (a "wire" ferry point was particularly fascinating),  it also has trams and  I would organise out tram schedule  at the end of each day for the next day.  It is important to know how to get from A to B in my eyes if you have places you want to see and limited time and not just blindly standing at a tram stop wondering which tram to board and what direction they go in.  I like to be organised. 

There are also many restaurants if you want to eat out somewhere different each night.  For us we also like to eat in our hotel room and there was a food  market near the station, next to our hotel, where we could obtain a variety of foods, picnic style, for our evening feasts.  The hotel we were staying in was more of a bar/restaurant with rooms, the kind that you find in France, and we would also eat there some evenings.   Breakfast each morning was in the bar area and I don't remember much choice but it was adequate for what we were paying.    

Then Basel is also a cultural centre and there were several art galleries on my list to visit.  I remember there was one major exhibition of contemporary art on whilst we were visiting.   

And finally there is the main line station adjacent to which we were staying which enabled us to have days out  and we visited Zurich and Chur which included a long train ride through the Swiss countryside and mountains.   

In conclusion, Basel was the perfect place for a holiday for us.  The train ride was quite an adventure too with harvest going on as we passed through France and of much interest to me and P.  There was also an incident when the train stopped at Troyes when a family became separated when the train doors shut when only half the family had boarded.  Troyes station is a very long curved station so we were able to see this happening a long way further down the platform on the bend.  Fortunately, if anything can be fortunate in such an occurrence, one parent and one child had boarded and one parent and one child were left standing on the platform.  French trains do not wait and the stops are very quick.   The family had a pushchair and luggage.  They were Indian and she wore a sari. I could see her distraught on the platform as the train left without her. 

Stage 12 : Crash mars the finish

 Today's stage 12 finish gave a nasty domino effect crash 500 metres from the line.  It didn't look nice and a lot of sprinters involved.  Tim Melier and about 15 other riders got away from the crash and Melier came in first, followed by Kooij, and Philipsen.   The GC riders keep out of the way of the sprint finishers on stages like this. 

The GC is the same tonight so, again, no need for me to type it out.  All tht will change tomorrow.   

Stage 13 is Dole to Belfort in the Haute Saone department starting in the Jura mountains and ending in the Vosges Mountains. These are two separate mountain ranges in the Eastern part of France.  Dole is about 30 miles from Dijon.  Belfort is close to the Swiss border.  We are gradually getting close to Mulhouse where France, Germany and Switzerland meet.  I have been there!  It was the gateway to Basel where I went for a holiday many years ago. 

Stage 13 is the longest stage at 205.8 kms, starting undulating and then with two climbs, the big one being 8.7 km up the Ballon d'Alsace.  This will suit the strong climbers and the descenders.  Pidcock is amongst the betting.  He had a crash yesterday but he says he is ok. 

Enjoy.   

England Out

 I went to bed when Anthony Gordon was taken off.  The madness of the decision was enough for me to hit the sack and relax.  

This morning I have just watched the final 20 minutes to see the two Argentina goals. 

England's luck ran out, the luck they had in beating Mexico and the luck they had in beating Norway, both wins that were not on merit.   

Without Pickford's saves it could have been a lot worse. 

I hope the whinging doesn't start this morning.  The best team won.  

Tuchel disappoints me for the first time.  The English disease of fear of losing overcame him and no casting of fate to the wind and putting on the attackers for Tuchel either.    Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. 

Oh Ivan Toney and Rashford come on for the last five or so minutes.  Toney's first appearance in the World Cup he comes on with five minutes to go.   What an ask. 

My personal barometer is how the team sing the anthems.  Argentina had the passion in oodles and England had the look as if they couldn't give a toss.  Even if the stadium rang out with the anthems it was not with a lot of assistance from the England players.  Britiain is a country who hate themselves.   This is Britain. Flags not allowed. Pride not allowed. We are always going to lose because this is what we stand for and we are told this is what is to make us happy.  We are not a country anymore, we are to hate ourselves and be the losers that the government wants us to be.  We are learning to fulfil that easily by keeping quiet, pulling the flags down and doing as we are told, taking labels of far right and far left and accepting everything that once we would not accept in Britain is now to be accepted as the norm.  

 If I was the England manager I would forget about football when I first had my squad together and get them to write down what it is to be British for them, what they think of Britain, what effect seeing other teams singing their anthems has on them as individuals. I would get them to share that out loud with each other.  I would ask them what they want in playing for England and how much do they care, not just clichés but really make them think.   I would ask them to talk about things that may embarrass them about playing for England, if they have any.  I would clear the air and then get a level playing field.   All this behind closed doors.  Then I would do some dramatics with them, acting out what it is to be part of Britain and only Britain, not international politics like bended knees and political opinions. 

I would build up this side of things before I started on the football.  

Today looks to be a quiet, and a  hot day.  The sheets are in the washing machine and no plans for anything today.  The films continue to be not my kind of films so no visit to the cinema.  No shopping of interest, no money to spare for clothes except essentials like a pair of shoes which will be coming from Pavers chosen in the summer sale ready for winter.   A 50p vest was acquired at the charity shop this week.  I washed it and dried it yesterday.  It came from a skep of three items for £1.50.  I could only find one that would fit me.    

I have been out to vote for the Police Commissioner, got the newspapers, the shoes have been delivered and I am wearing them to break them in.   

I have changed the bed putting the washed bedding back on the bed straight off the linen line.  That is the joy of a good summer, the waashing dry and straight back to whatever it is meant for, wearing or bed, and skipping the airing cupboard. 

Stage 11 Tour

 It's been a hot and lazy day here for me.  The booking of a new chimney sweep was the important action of the day.  My previous man has retired he informed me this week.   

I went out for the paper in the usual procedure for days when I am here as opposed to going out somewhere on the train and can buy a paper at the station. 

I called into one village shop where I used to purchase a paper and was told they haven't sold them for two years.   That was a surprise and I suppose a sign of the times that people do not read newspapers like they used to. I carried on to the nearest small town and purchased my paper in the supermarket. I didn't buy anything else.  

Stage 11 of the Tour today was the fastest stage in the tour history.   This was measured in speed which was 50.9 kph averaged by the stage winner Soren Waerenskjold   

It was a bunch sprint finish and came in a bit messy with an elbowing and a swinging around and the result was that Jasper Philipsen was banished from 3rd to 119th adjudged to have elbowed rival Girmay.  This was a bit of the old Cavendish gripe that riders used to have with him, elbowing and swaying you will recall. 

The ride was flat, and fast, and there is no change in the GC tonight so I won't type it out again. 

Tomorrow's stage is stage 12 and another flat stage, possibly more undulating than today's.  It is Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours to Chalon-Sur-Saone, 179 kms, which is a bit of a mouthful.  It is still in the Loire area and chateaux abound. 

This is last stage for the sprinters so more fast run in and hopefully less chaos.

 

This post is dedicated to Ann Widdecombe, straight talking, honest woman, and it is  dedicated to God who will always listen and when you are alone and you wish to share troubles and seek help he will always listen.  The power of prayer is the most powerful thing there is.