Brazil In Trouble

Today I was firming up on my designs for my master bedroom.  Hopefully I can agree all the details with the suppliers by Thursday and they can go ahead.  

The Tour de France having left behind Le Cote de Blubberhouses and other Peaks in Yorkshire, is now back on Le Continent and will remain there until the finale in Paris.  But whatever happens in this extraordinary sporting spectacle, nothing will compare with the events during the three days in England.  We gave them everything.  Most people in the South of England know little of Yorkshire; the French even less.  And in two days of glorious sunshine Yorkshire showed itself to the world and embraced everything of the Tour de France.  The crowds were absolutely massive — estimated about 2.5 million on each of the two days in Yorkshire and the helicopter showed the fantastic scenery, the glorious buildings, the towns and villages, the literary heritage, and the industrial buildings.  The organisers were gob-smacked by the response and the vast crowds.  Some of the riders reported goose-bumps as they endured the noise and squeezed their way through the walls of people.  And the racing was not bad either.  I was able to realise just how good these bike riders are as athletes as they surged up the cobbled main street of Howarth — Bronte country — a street which I know from direct experience is seriously steep.  They had a genuine sprint finish on the day, which unfortunately left Mark Cavendish badly injured lying on the floor, before he was taken to hospital and eliminated from the race. On day 2 the finish was on a half-a-mile of very steep road in Sheffield — Jenkin Road — which provided a terrific struggle among hill climbers and the top men to keep their places — it was like the Pyrenees. Could we have imagined such a scene?  On day 3 there was a stage form Cambridge across Essex and some beautiful English villages and more vast crowds before another big sprint finish on The Mall in London in the pouring rain.  We had to give them some rain so that they would know that they had been in England in summer.  All in all, it was epic and there is no doubt that the organisers will want to come back here again.  Congrats to all concerned in putting on this spectacle in England.

Meanwhile today in Brazil, Germany inflicted a staggering defeat on the home team in the World Cup semi-final  They won 7 - 1.  The Brazilians supporters are in shock and many were in tears.  But their team were abysmal in a way that only teams like England can aspire to.  They were atrocious and at half-time when they were already five goals down, they were booed off the field.  The booing was not quite so bad at the end because a lot of supporters had left or were sitting on the ground and crying.  It is difficult now not to make Germany favourites for this World Cup.

Good Luck Netherlands, tomorrow.

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