It was cool overnight; so cool we had to go searching for more blankets. In late-morning, Rita decided that she wanted to cycle up to Auxonne and pick up the car. So off she went up the left-bank of the Saone, on a 20km ride to Auxonne, which took about 90 minutes because of some rougher-than-expected sections of the bikepath. While she was out I emailed Judy and Peter to see where they were and whether they wanted to catch up tonight, given that we would now have the car to get to them.

Rita arrived home in mid-afternoon, and immediately went for a granny nap. While she was resting, I took the opportunity to follow the World Cup Cricket final between 3rd and 4th teams, England and NZ. In parallel, I also followed the Wimbledon Mens Final between Djokovic and Federer. In late afternoon, I got a reply from Judy saying that they were still at Choisey, and having a quiet time on-board their boat Mermaid, but would love to see us for dinner, especially since they missed out on catchimg up with Rita last week. So around 6pm we drove across to Choisey, and met up with them. As usual, a good time with lots of conversations and laughs. While we were with them, I continued following the cricket and tennis and updating them with scores, and so witnessed two of the greatest travesties in sport in recent years.

For a nation that has brought Brexit and Boris upon themselves, they demonstrated this weekend that they couldn't even organise a chook raffle when it comes to sporting events. Firstly, they schedule three major events (Wimbeldon Mens Final, WCC Final and British GP) on the same afternoon, so if you wanted to follow all three, tough! And then in two of them they come up with ridiculous decisions. In the tennis, Djokovic and Federer had fought themselves ragged into a 5th set decider, and when it reached 6-6 and they keep playing as per normal (within a tie-breaker), we thought we were in for a monumental fight to the death until someone lost their serve. But oh no, someone had decided it would be a good idea to have a tie-breaker when they reached 12-12. Tie-breakers were introduced to prevent overly long games delaying the schedule for following games. But in the Mens Final there are NO following games. They can let them play as long as they want without delaying anyone, and why would you stop them when it's such an important match. If they've got to 12-12 in the fifth set, then clearly they are very evenly matched and the tension is high. What a ridiculous rule, introduced just this year; hopefully it will be removed immediately.

The cricket was even more farcical. NZ batted first and made 8-241, not a great score, but defendable. In reply, England were all out for 241 on the last ball of the 50th over, when attempting to get a second run to win the match (don't mention the 6 they were given off a dead ball on the third last delivery). So scores tied, and they play a super over (where each team has 2 batsmen facing one bowler). They bat until the over is bowled or they have lost both wickets - highest score wins. England make 0-15, and NZ reply with 1-15, losing that wicket on the last ball of the over trying to get a second run. So in total, England made 10-256 and NZ made 9-256. But they then gave the match to England because they hit more boundaries during the game (or conversely, they had more dot-balls during the game). In any other form of cricket, where a tie is not allowed, most runs count first and then, if they're equal on runs, then it goes to least wickets lost, before other more obtuse measurements are introduced. England lifted the cup, but NZ were the real victors!

Around 9.30pm we left Judy and Peter, and we were all in a foul mood because of the above results. We thought we would then go into Dole to watch the Bastille Day fireworks, but it turned out they had them on the 13th. So instead we drove over to Auxonne, where Rita had learned when picking up the car that they had fireworks planned for 11pm. We got there at 10pm, and waited in the cold for an hour (Rita hid in the warmer Capitainerie Office with a cup of tea). But the wait was worth it, with a spectacular display, especially for a town the size of Auxonne. I'd love to know how much was spent on fireworks in France over the weekend of July 13-14.