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Happy Bastille Day, Pigale, to you and France!
Hope it is enjoyable and may we have a French victory at La Pierre Saint Martin!

Good morning, Doglet!
I do not know the story of Aeschylus but I shall look him up in my Brewer's later.
It is very nice of France to send us some of their good weather!

I doubt this very much Rusty ! I hope they won't 'fix' things for it to happen ! don't want to appear defeatist, but I am starting to lose confidence in the French riders !

What about Froome and of course Contador ?

Having helped in a children's hospital when I was a teenager, any throwing of fireworks (as happens in Germany on New Year's Eve too) makes me shudder. The lad who got a banger in his wellie boot, the one who got one down his trousers etc.
However, happy Bastille Day, Pigale
I am trying to bake a 10 egg Madeira for a friend- wish me luck. It will have a tennis court on top (if successful)

Thank you Rosalind ,

I too am very weary of bangers - if only parents taught their kids to be safe when using them, that would go a long way towards avoiding accidents. Too many accidents every year, the worst being when a banger does not go off, the youngster picks it up to have a look, and the 'b.....y' thing goes bang in his face ! Now that can be avoided if taught from an early age never to touch a banger that has not gone off.

They also tend to throw them as they walk, without wondering where they are going to land, and that's another danger. I've seen a little girl being hurt in the leg just because of that, so yes, you are right to shudder !

By the way, what is a Madeira ? Apart from a nice drink of course !

Pigale, I think there will be Frenchmen getting into the breaks today. It is Bastille Day...they have to!
Plenty time for Contador.
We are still a long way from Paris.
(Is there an echo in here?)
Froome has rode well, I think, and he has a sound team.

You may not be aware, Pigale, but there is a story coming from Team Sky directeur sportif Brailsford ,today, that the Sky computers have been hacked.
He thinks by people hunting for evidence that Froome has been cheating. All the data pertaining to riders is held on computers.
Just another day on the Tour de France!

Since I was young, the size of fireworks has increased in size so much! Obviously fireworks have always been potentially dangerous if misused, but now that they are so gigantic they are very dangerous indeed.
You are right to warn against them , Rosalind and Pigale, and to speak of your first -hand experience. of mishaps. Would that parents could be taken on a hospital tour of the children's wards after bonfire night!

Madeira is a sponge cake, pigale - not that I've ever baked one!

Morning, Rusty!
I'm behind times this morning - I was late back from dog-walking; it was a nice cool , fresh day and we walked further than intended as it was so pleasant . But then, why not?
That is a nice 'human' touch about cyclists being allowed to meet up with their families en route - I would never have envisaged something like that being allowed to take place!
I hope to watch some of the race today in between dog walks, cat feeds, etc.... there just aren't enough hours in my day!
I have looked Aeschylus up in MY Brewers as I didn't know who he was, either! (Doglet is very well- informed!)
Aeschylus was a Greek tragic poet, one of nine, and known as the 'most sublime' of them all - he wrote ninety plays!
Yes, he was killed by a tortoise being thrown against his head by an eagle, in an attempt to break the tortoise's shell. It is thought that the eagle mistook Aeschylus' bald head for a stone!
Now, my Brewers is very old indeed - much older than either yours or Jazzgirl's as has been proved by mine failing to have information to which you have access.
And I cannot even find a publishing date anywhere? does your edition have a 'last published/ printed' date?
(If so, where abouts is it?)

Into the mountains...
Allez allez!
(Chapeau Rusty, Pigale et al!)

I'm not against fireworks generally but throwing them seems mad to me. Agree about ones that seem not to have gone off.
A Madeira cake is just a sponge, but differs from a Victoria sponge by having 50% more flour (and plain, at that). I also add glycerine and milk and , in this case, chocolate drops. Cakes which have quite complex decorations must be firmer and last longer than a usual sponge. Madeiras improve with keeping for 3-4 days.

It is cooked, thank goodness and now cooling. Then it will be wrapped for a few hours in foil before operations begin, after which it will (hopefully) look like a tennis court, with racquets and tennis balls round the side.

Have visitors tomorrow for a few days so quite stressful. The cake is for a neighbour