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Good evening, Elle!
Yes, a great pity for Bjorg, he was 22 and was a rising star in cycling.
Bad enough on Saturday with Elinor and her collar bone, but this is way beyond that.
Froome seems to making good progress in his recovery from his crash.
You will be glad to hear from your younger daughter!
Any word on potential digs for you?
No word from my girls today.
I hope to track their flights home, and may text them later for a time or flight number from Las Vegas to Newark.

Hi, Rusty!
Yes, that is a good idea to text the girls and find out their flight plans, so that you will be able to track their journey.
This was the first time I have actually 'spoken' to my daughter since they have been away, but she has been emailing me every day with news and sending me photos.
No, she has not yet had time to go round to suss out the holiday accommodation list that I gave her, but she assures me that she will do so at some point!
But I am not holding out a great deal of hope that I shall be allowed to take my cat, though.
The house where we previously stayed in Swanage was really great.
We stayed there on numerous occasions, and the owner let us take the four cats and the dog!
Without charging for them, either, which saved us an incredible amount of money.
An average charge is £25 per pet per week!
Unfortunately, the house owner retired and so ceased operating as a holiday proprietor, and sold the house to a private owner.
And we have not yet found a viable alternative!
Right, I am told that we are now going to discuss plans for an outing tomorrow.......

Hello, Elle!
I have had to do a bit of detective work to find the flight.
La Bamba told me the flight leaves at 13.45, but no flight was going to Newark then!
So I looked up Las Vegas departures for Tuesday and found two flights leaving at 13.45.
One to Seattle, and one to Washington Dulles.
They are flying to Washington, and from there to Edinburgh!
Must think old granddad is a mind reader!
Hope your daughter finds something, but she has to enjoy her holiday, too!

Good morning, Rusty!
A pleasant fine morning.
Dog and I had a good walk.
You did well to find the correct flight for your granddaughters, based only on a departure time and not a destination!
You will be kept busy following their progress.....
Do they have a stopover in Washington?
We are heading out shortly.....
We are driving further out into Kent, and calling in at Polhill Garden Centre en route.....
We should be home by teatime.
Have nice day......talk later!

Good morning, Elle!
It is a bit rainy here at times!
I do not know what you mean by "stopover" at Washington, Elle?
They leave the aeroplane from Las Vegas there, and get on the aeroplane going to Edinburgh.
Is that a stopover?
Just finished my puzzle.
A good one.
One of the answers is the title of a book which I have never heard of.

Hello Elle and Rusty!

I have only just read the reports of the tragic death of a young rider
in the Tour de Pologne; We are used to some crashes in cycling,
but this is just awful. Like Elle and everyone, I think not only
of a young life wasted, but also of all his family and friends/team mates!

The only other fatal accident I can remember involved the British
rider Simpson (I think?) and was due to drug intake if remember
correctly.

They say it happened on a flat road, so what went wrong? Did you
watch it Rusty?

On a lghter note, I hope you are enjoying having your family with
you Elle, and that the girls will soon be back home taking you
to the Pine Cone Rusty!

Warm and sunny here -

Good afternoon, Pigale!
Hope you are fine!
A tragedy for young Bjorg Lambrecht.
I don't watch the Tour of Poland, so I only know what the cycling press report.
Apparently the crash happened on a wide flat road and he hit a concrete culvert.
Yes, Simpson collapsed on Mont Ventoux and the post mortem found amphetamines and alcohol in his system.
That, combined with the heat, is what they think caused his death.
The death that I remember most vividly was that of Fabio Casartelli.
He crashed on the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet in the Tour of 1995.
His head hit a concrete block and he died in the helicopter taking him to hospital.
No crash helmets in those days, but the doctors said a helmet would not have saved him.
His head injuries were very bad indeed.
I am looking forward to the girls coming home!
The leave Las Vegas tonight and should be home around noon tomorrow.

Hello Rusty!

I had to google Fabio Casartelli and watch a video of the drama -
There was a spell of 7 years when I could not watch any of the
Tour de France as I was managing a Chateau-Hotel and the Tour
took place in the height of our busy season.

Strangely enough I don't even remember my father telling me about
it ? He may not have done so if he thought I was too busy to even
keep an eye on the Tour.

You will be pleased to see the girls, once they have recovered from
the 'jet-lag' effect - having said that, they are young and probably
cope very well even though Vegas has a big time difference with Europe. (8 hours I think?)

Oregon is 9 hours behind us and I spent 2 or 3 days wanting to
sleep in the daytime on my return!

Hope you are not bothered with heavy rain in your area?

Hello, Pigale!
I am surprised you don't remember Fabio.
He was the reigning Olympic champion.
One thing happened that I had not seen before, and hope not to see again.
The following day the race was neutralised, the riders rode to Pau at a steady pace, and Team Motorola (Fabio's team) were invited to the front of the peloton, and crossed the finish line with the peloton a respectful distance behind them, and the commentator's voice breaking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8KtRAS5dMg

Looking forward to seeing the girls later in the week!

Hello Rusty!

Thank you for the link, a very emotional moment, and good to see the crowds showing their respect too.
I agree, not something one would want to see again!

No, I cannot remember Fabio because, as I said, there was a space of 7 years while I was hard at work all day and most of the evening throughout all the spring/Summer/Autumn in the hotel, and therefore saw nothing at all of cycling or of anything else for that matter.