A LAZY START TO THE MONTH

I had a very lazy start to the month of July. I have an excuse, since it was the day of the men's semi-finals at Wimbledon, and I had to watch them. At the end of the first match I announced to my children that I was not going to make dinner after all, but would satisfy myself with beer and nacho chips (which I duly did). And after Andy Murray had been comprehensively demolished by Rafael Nadal, I then went to bed early and read my book.

The good thing about such a start is, of course, that July can't really get any lazier. There will be mountain stages of the Tour de France that will require my undivided attention; but provided I eat something more complicated than nachos, I should be able to meet an otherwise fairly undemanding requirement.

Walter Blotscher