FRANCE - le tour de

The Maillot Jaune - Yellow Jersey

On Saturday cycling's Tour de France begins. As usual I shall be following the action via ITV4's excellent coverage. Live everyday and via their highlights programme.
Every year I get as much pleasure from watching them travel through France as I do from the actual racing. I worked on travel brochures primarily involving France, for 10 years, and yet each 'tour' they go somewhere I've never seen before. Last year I noted some crazy hairpin bends not far from Grenoble in the Alps, beautiful valley scenery in the Pyrenees at Plateau de Beille and the Millau Viaduct over the River Tarn. 
This year I shall be glued, watching for more sights as the helicopters circle and camera bikes follow the riders around the 21 stages. See the official site for the route. 
The opening stage begins at Mont St.Michel and goes to Utah beach (St.Marie-du-mont) in Normandy. I'll be keeping an eye out for Stage 9 the Pyrenees and Andorra. Stage 12 which climbs Mont Ventoux, always spectacular. Stage 16-17 takes us into Switzerland. And Stage 20 ends in Morzine, a town I know quite well.
I'll be on my bike for the next three weeks and naturally following the Sky Team and hoping for Chris Froome to repeat last years success. 

England Exit !

I had started updating my Euros chart from last week to show the quarter-final matches. But now I can't bring myself to do it… England's dreadful show against the smallest nation in the tournament and 2-1 defeat to Iceland was all too much.
A poor performance from players and a team that a few weeks ago looked good enough to be named 4th favourites to win the competition. Did the Premiership players* look tired after the usual long season in England saw them crash out of a Summer tournament tamely and prematurely. Certainly Harry Kane was very disappointing, as were the other Tottenham players, after their efforts in the Premier League. Joe Hart made mistakes. But the fact of the manager not knowing his best eleven, accompanied by a system and no real team organisation were all part of the problem.
But enough - I shall try to put my brave face on and offer up some light-hearted moments for your distraction in my Euro Commentary: (overheard or dreamt, I'm not entirely sure)

• And Salata, the Slovakian defender, does well for starters.
• Evans forward to Evans, he's tackled by Davies. And Davis will take the throw-in for Wales.
• Kroos will be cross with himself there. Should have scored !
• Belgium verses Hungary in Toulouse, a game neither side can afford to lose.
• Ireland going long to Long.

* To be fair other Premiership players didn't perform as well as expected. Arnautovic (Austria) and Shaqiri (Switzerland), both had great seasons at Stoke, but average Euros. While Payet (France) and Pelle (Italy) have been the exception along with the Welsh and Irish team efforts.

I was sorry to see Croatia go out, as they had played well and had some promising young players. Markos Pjaca and Rog, worth keeping an eye on. 

I wasn't sure what to pick today. I'm use to being spoilt for choice and this week that was particularly true. There were a number of nominations but in the end I went for this.
Something quite different, seen last weekend on the BBC's Graham Norton Show. Christine and the Queens performing their song "Tilted". She is appearing at the Glastonbury Festival, around lunchtime today, and apparently it's possible to watch live at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ewcj5v    If you like this video, try the link and see. 

If you enjoyed this there's a different version from Later… with Jools Holland that includes a Prince tribute at the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxM3W5uaVok

Making some sense of it…. and planning your weekends !

If like me you are confused as to why Wales are playing Northern Ireland and Croatia Portugal, I can only sympathise. It has taken me a good half hour to work out this 3rd place system and even then it relies on accepting a pre-arranged formula in need of further explanation. 

See table right: The top four best 3rd placed teams were in order: Slovakia, Ireland, Portugal and N. Ireland. This meant groups, B C E & F provided the winning line. So that's all we're concerned with in this table. 
Only Winners from the groups A,B,C,D would play a 3rd placed team, so column WA (winner A: France plays 3rd place in E: Ireland. WB (winner B: Wales plays 3rd place in C: N. Ireland. WC (winner C: Germany plays 3rd place in B: Slovakia. And WD (winner D: Croatia plays 3rd place in F: Portugal. Phew, I need a lie down now.

As we move into the final group stages of the tournament, France, Switzerland and Italy are through, while Albania have to wait until Wednesday to find out if they are in or out and therefore going home, due to the new 3rd place qualification system explaining itself only after all the games have been played. 
Time to reflect on what we've seen so far.

• What's with playing with no Centre-forward ? Germany and Spain ? (though Morata performed a better impression of a C-F in game two)
• The return of the long-pass (as opposed to the long-ball, that is). See Italy.
• Overused phrase: 'take the positives from the game'.  zzzzz
• Worse commentary team: Mark Lawrenson and Jonathan Pearce. More ridiculous comments made in 90 minutes – definite Red Cards. You're off !
• Annoying moments: players 'buying' free-kicks, by falling over at the slightest touch. Refs have been better at ignoring this, but a lot of clear shirt pulling is going unpunished.
• Stadium crowd trouble: how the hell are fans getting these flares through the turnstiles and into the ground ? 
• To much playing the way you're facing. Back passes mostly. Whatever happened to a change of direction ?  See below for 'extreme' examples:

Enjoy the match. 

Last week's STAR TRACK by Smashing Pumpkins, though essentially an alternative rock band they found this particular song, with its 30-piece orchestra, described as a 'rock anthem'. A grand title afforded many late 70s and 80s songs that threw everything bar the kitchen sink into a memorable and marketable rock 'tour de force' to great effect. A sort of trimmed down version and close relative of the lengthier excursions (and meanderings) of the Progessive Rock music movement that preceded it.
Where's this going ? Well, I've checked and we've had all types of rock music on the  FRIDAY SPOT  but not really Progessive. A few years back I bought a copy of 'PROG' magazine, primarily because it had a feature listing 'The 100 Greatest Prog Albums of all time' - just to see how many I owned. Quite a few if I'm honest. But included with the magazine was a free CD, the final track being by Monarch Trail called 'Luminescence'. At an almost compulsory 11 minutes long with appropriate arty and psychedelic imaginary befitting the music, this is very YES*.
So time to light up the joss sticks, pull up an inflatable chair or arrange some cushions on the floor and make yourself comfortable so you can nod your head in an enlightened and meaningful fashion. 
Let's Prog !  on the blog.

* No idea what I'm going on about ? 
Click: Rock Family Trees The Prog Rock years
Broadcast in 1998 and narrated by John Peel - set aside 50 minutes. If you're a Prog Rock fan, this shouldn't be difficult.

Yesterday was BEER Day Britain*. Nothing terribly official about this but an easy excuse to have a drink with my brother at our usual lunchtime haunt 'The Sugarloaf' in Cannon Street.
I'd hoped to have another pint of the Dark Star 'Hophead' I'd enjoyed previously, but in its place this time was something called 'Ramble Tamble', from the Triple fff brewery in Hampshire.

The American flag featured on the label gives away the style of the Pale Ale. Using all American hops this is 'a huge hoppy assault on the taste buds' to quote the brewery bumph on this beer - no arguments from me. In fact quite a few of my current favourite beers are IPA's using American hops, Dark Star and Lidl's Hatherwood 'Green Gecko' included.

If you click on http://www.triplefff.com/our-beers you'll discover more about Triple fff and their beer selection. No explanation that I can discover, but with names like Moondance, Dazed and Confused, Pressed Rat & Warthog, Stairway, Smells Like TEAM Spirit and Comfortably Numb, there's clearly something Rock 'n' Roll going on here. Further investigation is a must and underway, so watch this space.   





*I would have posted this blog yesterday but our Sky broadband had gone down. Which wasn't half as nice as the beers going down. Cheers !

Football's Euro2016 kicks-off today and if you were expecting 'Three Lions' or something similar you might have known I'd find something completely different. 
This song played as background music to the recent BBC programme "Alan Shearer's Euro 96: When Football Came Home", behind England's penalty win over Spain. Presumably the producer (or whoever) picking-up on it being in the charts during the weeks leading into the tournament. 'Tonight, Tonight' by Smashing Pumpkins.

This video won various awards in 1996. By today's standards it looks rather average which only goes to show how much picture quality and CGI have altered our view.

Today is also the funeral for Muhammad Ali in Louisville, Kentucky  see: http://billblogs2.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/another-legend.html  if you'd prefer.

A TALE OF THREE CITIES as well as Three Lions

1996 European Championships in England. 

   To begin with I was home in London, by the final stages of the competition I was neither here nor there. The one all draw with Switzerland was not the best start but a sunny Saturday afternoon at Wembley and a 2-0 win against Scotland got the crowd singing the 'Three Lions' anthem and the 4-1 victory over the Dutch really got the country dreaming after 30 years of hurt. England had a team full of leaders plus the maverick Paul Gascoigne and we had 'home' advantage.  

    The Quarter final game against Spain found me in Paris. A two-day charity triathlon had ended earlier that day and a crowd of us found a bar outside EuroDisney, where we were staying, and endured the goalless 120 minutes before a penalty shoot-out resulted in a win for England. Stuart Pearce exorcising some of his hurt of 6 years before with a thumping penalty.

      In the semi-finals England's old nemesis Germany awaited, but I'd flown out to Turkey for a holiday, two days before and was now 2 hours ahead but on time and in position for kick-off in the hotel terrace bar in Datca. England's goal was scored so quickly some people were not on the terrace they didn't think it had started. It wasn't long before it was 1-1 and then extra-time and the inevitable penalties approached. This tournament had for the first time used the 'Golden Goal' system, whereby the first team to score in extra-time were the winners. Three matches before this one had thrown up such a possibility and all had gone the distance, as would this game. Five penalties scored each and it's sudden death: England miss and the Germans score. More heartache, more hurt. From nearly 2,000 miles away it felt like Euro96 was all over. 

     We did get a 'Golden Goal' in the final and I did watch it, hoping for the Czech Republic to win, they didn't. 

      3 weeks in June. Never stops me dreaming… ?

The tournament begins tomorrow in France. In 1992 complete outsiders Denmark triumphed and then 12 years later unfancied Greece pulled off a similar victory. It's now 12 years on and time for another surprise winner… perhaps ?

A Bridge too Far

We haven't had one of these "where in the world' for a while. This one is under the heading of some crazy bridges and in particular this one in Cambodia. Located in Kampong Cham, a city in the East part of Cambodia, the Bamboo Bridge is the major means of access to a nearby island in the dryer seasons of the year. Even crazier, the Bamboo Bridge is rebuilt every year and is expected to hold hundreds of people at any given time.
“The bridge has a framework made of bamboo sticks and a carpet of several layers of canes cut in halves extends over it, absorbing the impact of the vehicles.” Would you risk a crossing?

France: Millau Viaduct (Below)
Leave it to the French to do horrifying with style. Running across the River Tarn, the Millau Viaduct runs more than a mile and a half across a massive gorge. “A cable-stayed, masted structure, the bridge is delicate, transparent, and has the optimum span between columns. Its construction broke several records: not least in that it superseded the Eiffel Tower as the tallest structure in all France.” 

Last year the Tour de France bike race featured this bridge. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJXeHS79kFQ

Want more bridges: http://www.destinationtips.com/travel/15-scariest-bridges-world/9/

Another Legend

Many tributes have flooded in over the weekend for Muhammad Ali, who died last Friday. Never short of a word or two Ali wrote his own "How I would like to be remembered" 

"I would like to be remembered: as a man who won the heavyweight title three times, who was humorous and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him and who helped as many of his people as he could. As a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what. As a man who tried to unite all humankind through faith and love. And if all that’s asking too much, then I guess I’d settle for being remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and a champion of his people. And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was."

I'd like to recall the 1977 movie "The Greatest" and the title song performed by George Benson, written by Michael Masser with lyrics by Linda Creed. And the line that has always stuck with me "I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadow".
This video clip starts, respectfully, very quietly before the piano begins.  R.I.P. champ !

I often find after posting the Friday  STAR TRACK  that it's playing in my head for the rest of the day. In the case of last weeks offering, I was still humming it this morning. I suspect today's track will have a similar effect.
On 24th May Robert Zimmerman turned 75 years old. Happy Birthday Bob! Some time ago I discovered this video from a concert by The Byrds playing their version of 'Mr Tambourine Man'. The audience reaction to the sudden appearance and clear surprise at seeing Bob Dylan stroll on stage, creates a rush of excitement, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. (Especially good through headphones). It's a classic song and this adds to the memory and the life of Mr Tambourine Man. 

Play a song for me… great track for a jingle jangle Friday !

Also last week marked 50 years since Bob Dylan was booed at his concert in the Royal Albert Hall, London for performing with electric guitars. Click: The times they have a-changed – Crazy when you think what followed.

Later this year he'll perform at a concert called 'Desert Trip', that has a line-up that surely only dreams are made of. 
See poster (right) – tickets sold out in just 3 hours. Click: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7364705/desert-trip-concert-mccartney-rolling-stones-sold-out

Blogo(s)

Some interesting examples of Logos that have hidden symbolism you may have not noticed before.

The Bronx Zoo

In New York City. Naturally being a zoo, they would use animals (in this case giraffes and birds) in their logo design. 

But take a second look at the giraffes’ legs and you’ll see New York’s city skyline artfully included through the space between the legs.

For more like this click here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/12-famous-logos-hidden-message-ivan-andelovic