Le Tour de France

I love a good tradition and am very quick to turn something into one. We have only been to Bermagui twice, but already I couldn't conceive of going anywhere else for our January holiday. Watching le Tour, of course, is a longstanding tradition with us, though it is one that changes and grows. I used to happily watch Gabriel's Taste le Tour, admire the scenery for a few minutes and pop off to bed. For the last few years I have really come to appreciate the sport as well. I'm not saying that I have developed a passion for cycling, the food and the scenery still play a large part in my enjoyment of the event, but I know about, and am interested in, the riders, the teams and who is ahead in each of the competitions.

Given that I would rather read than do most things, I like to turn the riders into characters. There are lots of 'goodies' - the friendly Jens Voight, the reserved Chris Froome and all of the Australians, of course. Simon Gerrans overtook Cadel as my top Aussie hero as he has a lovely, dimpled smile and we haven't heard him whinging in a girl's voice.  One can't dislike the former drug cheats too much as there are so many of them, but there are a few characters to dislike. My usual 'baddie' is Andy Schleck, who was very dismissive of Cadel in an interview, and that made Cadel's win so very sweet. This year, I have a new villain - Mark Cavendish. He's great to watch, such extraordinary talent, but such a diva!

For the third year running, we have shared a full stage with the Shephards. Shep and Monique came over last night and we ate cheese and bikkies while we watched. Joss and Tobes stayed up for the whole thing. We were all in our pyjamas. We're going to do it again this weekend and Mum and Dad can join us as they arrive this afternoon. Fun, but tiring, times!

Now we just need Toby to join Orica GreenEdge one year.....

That's him in the front