Great Big Collage #10: le Tour de France, 2001-15. (With thanks to USPS, but NOT Lance Armstrong)

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Almost every summer since I moved to the South of France, I have gone to watch the Tour de France.

A typical 'Tour day', involves driving to some isolated spot between the Alps and the Pyrenees,; getting there 3-4 hours before the race arrives; setting up a picnic table -- and then sharing your food and drink with your neighbours; waiting for the Tour's promotional caravan to pass, and collect as many 'souvenirs' as possible; waiting some more, and then, as the race gets nearer come the helicopters, the motor-cyclist journalists, the team cars, the police outriders, and then....the Tour de France!

The actual passage of the riders sometimes only takes 40 seconds.

And then, more team cars, more motor bikes, more police, and last of all the white van that collects any riders who have dropped out.

Then you wait for a while, pack everything up, and when the roads are open again, go home.

Here's a Great Big Collage celebrating the Tour -- black and white photos from the Tour between 1925 and 1970, and colour photos by me.

Here's a detail from it (I am middle bottom right in the white t-shirt and yellow Tour hat):

While photographing this Great Big Collage, my new Siamese kitten -- Boots -- decided to make a guest appearance. Here he is:

And last, my trusty Citroen 2CV -- Oranje (little orange) -- is here (middle right). (The other 2CV, top left, is giving out little sausages) to the hungry roads-side masses.

PS I cycle every morning between 06.30 and 07.30. Anyone want to join me?

*****

Copyright is mine, of course. But a word of thanks to USPS, for bringing me lots of mail art from the US (but not for the Lance Armstrong years)

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Hi Katerina: Dean is the big yellow monster that you can see center bottom in the 2nd picture. He ate too many abnanas before the Tour, and this is what happened.

Boots is even more trouble than Trouble, especially as he thinks that I am his mother, father and siblings. I had forgotten how tuime-consuming it was to have a young animal...or a child.

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

'Spotted Oranje there on the right...fun collage and very nice story of the event, too.

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Any photos of the Artist in Seine cycling in that Tour group???

'Love Boots...must be very gentle and obedient compared to Trouble?