Weather and cyclists and such!

My panadera (aka the lady in the breadshop) told me then weather was due to change. So by lunchtime today we had rain, not real rain, no torrential, soak you to the skin rain, but nonetheless rather drizzly rain! I felt a bit sorry for the people who came in on the cruise liner as they must have had a rather damp visit. 

Last night we discussed with one of the chess playing folk of Galicia the possibility of Phil translating some of his books into English. He told us about his experience with publishers in the early days of his writing career when he was so pleased to get a publishing contract that he signed away all his rights to publish those books in other countries. When his publisher did nothing to promote his books outside Spain, he could do nothing about it. Now he is older and wiser and knows the ropes a little better and is in control of his own work. I was reminded of pop singers and songwriters from the fifties who naively accepted contracts which gave them no rights to royalties in later years. Is the world full of sharks? Apparently so! 

I suspect that we might be talking about different sums of money signed away here though. Few people make a fortune out of chess, after all. I have yet to hear of chess players being in the kind of sponsorship deal where they have to wear, for example, a cap with their sponsor's name on whenever they appear in public. It doesn't happen like that. 

 The cyclists in the Tour, of course, have their sponsors' names blazoned all over their kit. And with the increased popularity of cycling, and the importance of having the right gear, loads of amateur cyclists now have the same cycling tops, paying large amounts of money to ride around advertising a company, just because that company sponsors a team in the Tour. The same goes for those who wear their favourite football team's jersey. And those football jerseys cost an awful lot of money. At least, if you buy the genuine article and not a cheap supermarket copy. 

In Italy they are remembering a cyclist who helped save hundreds of Jews from the Nazis by transporting counterfeit identity papers hidden in the frame of his bike. He was the star Italian cyclist whose victory in the Tour de France on the eve of the second world war made him a favourite of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. But he was also a devout Catholic who helped save hundreds of Jews from the Nazis by using his hero-status to courier false documents around Italy. On Friday– 100 years after his birth in a small village near Florence called Ponte a Ema - Gino Bartali, known to some as Gino the Pious, will be remembered in his home region of Tuscany, where a special bike ride, a dinner, a parade and free museum tours will be held in his honour. He died in 2000 and in his cycling career won three Giri d'Italia and two Tours de France. Not bad for a hero! 

Some-one who might be being forgotten Barbie, who is now 55 years old. The oddly shaped doll has seen her popularity fade in recent years. She might have tried dying her hair all sorts of colours, she might have tired a multitude of new professions but the old(ish) lady can't compete with new dolls which appear as vampires and witches and who knows what else. I never did like her but you can't help feeling sorry for a 55 year old who is deemed to be over the hill! 

Back to the cycling. Nibali is still in yellow after winning today's mountain stage. Poor Richie Porte had a bad day and lost more than 8 minutes to the Italian. It looks as though he might not be on the podium after all. But there's a Spaniards, Valverde, in second place. The race goes on.