Sporting life!

Here we are back in Galicia, much later than intended his year because of a series of family emergencies. But without those emergencies I would probably not have been around to see the Tour de France whizz through Yorkshire. 

The sun is shining beautifully here, as it was in the North West of England when we left. Indeed, according to messages from our daughter earlier today, the sun was still shining there this morning. This was not the case in London; according to our son it was camp and muggy, proof that the South does not always have the best weather. 

On Wednesday, while the sun shone nicely on Greater Manchester and Yorkshire, the poor cyclists in the Tour were riding through the rain in the North of France. And over cobbled stretches of country road to boot. It must have been really nasty. They were falling off their bikes all over the place. Chris Froome, the great hope of Team Sky, fell twice, having already fallen the previous day. (My mother always said things go in threes.) His third fall was too much for him and he withdrew from the race altogether quite early in the day's ride. Poor Chris Froome, last year the overall winner and this year forced out injured in the early stages. 

Now all hopes are pinned on Richie Port if Team sky is going to have a stab at winning this year. Because we were travelling, I didn't see any of Thursday's stage nor have I see any of Friday's or today's but I have found out that at the end of Thursday the Italian Nibali was still in the lead. Our Richie Port was almost two minutes behind (1'54" to be precise) in seventh place. One of my old favourites, Alberto Contador, still has to show what he is made of, back in 18th place and 2'37" behind the leader on Friday. 

Today, Saturday, Nibali continues in the yellow jersey, Richie Port is up to 3rd place, 1'58" behind the Italian, and Contador has moved up to 6th place, but still 2'34" behind. It's getting quite exciting and I am not seeing any of it. How very annoying! 

We travelled back without incident, despite the fears that we might have to prove that all our electrical gadgets were what they appeared to be by switching them on. After stories in the press about mobile phones and tablets being adapted to be explosive devices, we were hearing about all kinds of checks being made and the possibility of phones that were not fully charged being confiscated as they could not be shown to be working mobile devices. 

But we had no problems at all; maybe Liverpool airport was being lax. If that was he case, it didn't stop the over sensitive security gadgets pinging at my hair slide, my bangles and even the wires in my underwear as I went through the scanner. I began to wonder if I had suddenly acquired a metal plate somewhere about my person. 

The plane was full of noisy children, the sort who are unable to talk except at full volume and unable to share their toys with their siblings without whining. Great! We made it to Porto safe and sound and still relatively sane, however: correct destination and about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. 

Then yesterday morning I read about a small group of Galicians who ended up at the wrong destination. They had been visiting family in Mallorca and were flying back to Santiago de Compostela with RyanAir. One of their party was an old lady of 80+, not very mobile and was assisted onto the plane in her wheelchair. All seemed to be going well until one of the people travelling with the old lady realised that the flight was taking rather longer than expected and asked some questions. They were, in fact, on a flight bound for the North of England, way up almost in Scotland. When they boards the plane the air hostesses had only glanced at the boarding cards and directed them to their seats. Wonderful! 

At Liverpool, they were checking very carefully to make sure that no cheeky person without a priority boarding ticket (more expensive than the "other Q" kind that most of us had) was sneaking onto the plane ahead of anyone else. And yet in the case of the old lady in the wheelchair, no-one checked she was on the correct flight. I am amazed. To give the airline its due, they did pay for a taxi to take the lost passengers to London for a flight back to Santiago, although a little later than planned. 

Right now, we are in the Failde cafe, not far from our flat, a good wifi spot. The World Cup match between Argentina and Germany is about to start. Correction: the Argentina versus Germany match is tomorrow. Tonight's match is Holland against Brazil, currently not going well for the Brazilians!! 

What an exciting life I do lead!