After some Staycationing and some Couchcationing my time off is coming to an end. Tomorrow it is back to work time, and I am a bit nervous about it. At least I was until the perfect thing happened yesterday, the Tour de France started. For the next three weeks, I am covered.

For as long as I can remember the Tour has been part of my life. When I was a child it used to be on the television in the background, the endless sounds of honking horns, swooshing tires on the asphalt and the commentators that always seem to find something to bicker about. There was no escaping it, even in the car on radio 1 every 20 minutes a tour commentator would come on for updates. Going on Holiday it happened more than once that we got pulled over to the side of the road because the Tour was coming through. All you could do then is get out your folding chair and wait till they passed.

If you hate it, three weeks of Tour can become quite a nuisance, if you love it it cannot last long enough. And I love it, I cannot get enough. Not just highlights for me, but 5 hours of straight watching guys struggling up and down mountains all the way to the finish line. Cheering them on from the couch or my desk, yes, I watch during work, and cringing when they fall. I fully surrender to the Tour craziness.

The question is why I love it, and after some pondering I think it might be the fact that it is consistent. The Tour comes back every year, no matter what. When I was at my worst it was there in the same way as it was when I was at my best. If I was on vacation during the Tour and felt a bit queasy I could just walk into a bar and watch some Tour, and find my calm again.

I remember a particular weird time watching the tour in Basque country in a bar with only men. No problem of course but these were the particular grim type of men, that you sometimes encounter in Basque country. Of course, I had just skipped in and didn’t realize the grimness of the situation until the finish line was crossed. So, I got what I came for. My Tour fix.

Here we go, two types of doping, Citalopram and the Tour. I have a good feeling about the days ahead of me.