Aussie rules!

So it was Cadel Evans who won the Tour de France this year, the first Australian to win the tour, with the Schleck brothers 2nd and 3rd (the first time two brothers have been on the podium together.)Evans has been second twice before and it's a testament to his determination to keep on trying that he has won this year. At 34 lesser men might have given up, but not him. He's the oldest winner since WW2.

Mark Cavendish won the green jersey for sprinting, winning the last stage on the Champs Elysees to seal his victory. This was his 20th stage win in his career, his 5th this Tour, and he's the first British cyclist to win the green jersey. (He's from the Isle of Man, which still counts!)

Geraint Thomas wore the white jersey (best young rider) for 6 days and finished 31st overall and is one to watch. It was a shame that Brad Wiggins was injured in the first week as he would probably have been in the top 5. Hopefully he'll be fighting fit for next year.

The Schleck brothers are future contenders, as is Pierre Rolland who won best young rider.

Garmin Cervelo was the winning team.

It has been fab to watch and I've made more progress on Viktor, now at the gusset stage.

I'll have to get my sport fix from watching the cricket until the football season starts again (13th August).

maillot jaune et chaussette rouge

Andy Schleck

 I've been gripped by the coverage of the Tour de France 2011 as the cyclists take on the French Alps.

Yesterday there was the dramatic breakaway by Andy Schleck as he broke away from the pack with 2 hours of riding to go to the Col du Golibier, won the stage and cut Voeckler's lead to 15 seconds. Today Albert Contador (last year's winner) broke away with 3 hours of cycling left to do, but he was caught by Pierre Rolland who won the stage on L'Alpe d'Huez (and was the first Frenchman to win a stage this year). However Andy Schleck has the maillot jaune and is ahead by 53 seconds of his brother Frank! So it's all to ride for tomorrow.

Cavendish still has the green jersey for sprinting and Samuel Sanchez is the King of the Mountains

It's been good TV knitting too even though I've had to put the needles down when the cyclists were on the downhill stretches to Pinerolo(stage 17), that was eyepopping! A couple of riders ended offroad and in someone's carport- it was just as well they'd left the gates open or it could have been horrendous. The first Viktor sock is finished and second cast on. I've made it a little longer than in the photo on the pattern to suit how I like my socks.

I'm enjoying the TV coverage but I am a little envious of my in-laws who took their campervan to L'Alpe D'Huez to watch the race today and will now be heading to Paris for Sunday. I'm not sure if they're off to Grenoble tomorrow. Wish I was!

Viktor update



Lake Windermere

we had a lovely week in Bowness-on-Windermere, it was so sunny, D got sunburnt inner elbows! We'd expected it to be cool with some rain and had packed accordingly, taken our waterproofs but no sun cream.
We rented an 18th century fisherman's cottage which was very charming , and thankfully for Jen (and for our sanity) it had wi-fi.
I took my knitting, but it never got touched as I also got engrossed in  Pokémon Emerald. We all had Pokémon games with us (D had White and J had Black) assuming that the weather would be dreadful, as it often is in the Lake District. I didn't manage to finish my game though, although I got 8 gym leader badges I didn't get all the way up Victory road to take on the Elite Four. sigh. I might finish it next year, I suppose.

Our cottage was near this wonderful old pub The Hole Int Wall which was built in 1612 and serves a good range of local ales. I enjoyed a very pleasant Unicorn beer in here.

Now that we're back home, we've collected the dog from the kennels and moved Jack back through to Glasgow (one hairy hungry hound in, one hairy hungry hound out!), I can get back to Viktor. I think I need to do 3 cm before the cuff.
Jen & her pals saw Harry Potter Deathly Hallows part 2 yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. Jack and his flatmates are planning on seeing it today- they're suiting up, going for cocktails then going to see the film. o.0
I'd better get a move on with this sock, and if I can't complete the pair before seeing the film at least get one finished.

We love Bowness for its location and also because there's a good independent cinema there too. While we were there we saw Kung Fu Panda 2 which was ok, not as funny as Kung Fu Panda, but watchable, 3 stars ★★★ but only just. Then we saw Larry Crowne which is a sweet romcom with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. It was ok, only 2 stars though ★★.

I spent yesterday cleaning Jack's room (ugh) while listening to the Commons select committee questioning Rupert & James Murdoch (double ugh) about the phone hacking scandal which has left News Corp, the Metropolitan Police and the UK govt looking at best incompetent and at worst indulging in or ignoring criminal activity. Still, it put Jack's minging bedroom into perspective. It's not illegal(yet) to be untidy!

one city, two different views

This week we've watched two very different stories set in London.

Luther is a dark, uncompromising fast paced crime story showing the seedier side of London. D doesn't usually watch crime drama with me, unless it's European and subtitled, but he was engrossed by this one too and made a point of watching the three hour long episodes. John Luther is the troubled cop played by Idris Elba, who is very smart, very energetic and totally focused on his job. We didn't see the first series so we're going to have to track it down. It was difficult to knit along to though as the plot moves so fast! Still, it was well worth watching if you have a strong stomach!

Then we watched Another Year a low key film by Mike Leigh. It charts the highs and lows of a group of middle-aged people. It is very understated and very moving. Geographically it's set about 5 miles away from the carnage in Luther, and emotionally it's on a different planet altogether.
This was better to knit along to and I didn't jump out of my seat either! I like Mike Leigh's films very much, the acting is always top notch (Jim Broadbent and Lesley Manville in particular) and I can relate to the characters.    Well worth watching, four stars ★★★★

There's been some top notch sprinting from Mark Cavendish in France this week as he won his second stage in Chateauroux today.
But his delight was tempered when he was told that Bradley Wiggins had crashed out of the race with a suspected fractured collarbone. Owwww!
The TdF is good to knit along to, the rhythm of the peloton can be really helpful as long as I put down my needles for the last km!
I've turned the heel on Viktor and am now working on the leg until I get fed up with it, or it reaches a suitable length! The premiere of HP7 part 2 was shown in London's Leicester Sq last night so I'd better crack on if I want to wear these when we go to see the final part at the cinema!

catching up!

where have the last few weeks gone? the older I get the faster the days fly by!

so in the last few weeks no2 child has had her first trip abroad without us: she went to Paris on a school trip. She had a great time although she complained about the heat as some days it was 35C (95F). It was so quiet at home without her we thought we'd gone deaf!

I've enjoyed watching Wimbledon too. This year the men's title went to Novak Djokovic who beat Rafa Nadal 6-4, 6-1,1-6, 6-3. Nadal played well but Djokovic was very agile and strong and has a huge repertoire of shots. Murray was beaten by Nadal in the semis but will no doubt be inspired by Djokovic's victory as Nadal can be beaten on grass.

The ladies title was won by Petra Kvitova, beating Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4. Sharapova had come back from a shoulder injury and had been playing well and Kvitova might have been expected to be overwhelmed by the occasion, but she was as cool as a cucumber. It was good to see Sharapova back and it was good to see a new name on the winners' board.

I managed to get a swap package posted to the US today, which should have been sent by the end of May (oops!) and now that I've got those mini projects done I can get back to my Viktor socks. I did turn the heel a couple of weeks ago, but the sock was about 1.5cm too long on my foot so I had to rip back a little. I need to crack on with these if I want to watch them for the HP7 part 2!

The Tour de France is underway now so that will help me crack on with my socks. One day I'll join in with Tour de Fleece and spin every day of the race, but at the moment I'll just keep knitting. Maybe I'll catch up with my ever increasing queue of projects!