Rentrée ? Done! It’s already its week #4 and I just said bye to motivated Max, who’s leaving the house at 7.10 in the morning. It’s starting to be chilly, and more annoyingly: it’s getting darker. The mornings are still beautiful, with the sun rising in now three minutes (Diane, it’s 7.33), but soon commuting at this evil hour will be less fun. Effi’s sleep is getting more reliable again, except for a sick night like today. Back to Beta for me, Monday is Carvivo time and the rest of the week belongs to where my heart sits. Last week I attended my first séminaire with the team, two days and one night with the crew in Paris. The day at a overwhelming French ministry building with our startup de l’état’s main sponsor, the Agence nationale de la cohésion des territoires (ANCT), and the night we went bowling, dining and drinking. Not much sleep but much fun. Now the family is up and active, it’s time to start my day.

The first week of the rentrée is almost done, I spent most of my time at The Good Start right on the canal. What a beauty of a spot! My beta coworkers are slowly coming back from vacations, and I started a new three-months-long CTOaaS mission alongside. Fully booked until further notice: my life as a freelance keeps doing perfectly fine. My parents are still in town, babysitting ever-eager Effi until later today before returning home. Last weekend we all celebrated mum’s 70th birthday, with all sisters plus families in beautiful Pantin. What a success, with William having eternalized our beautiful family through an arty-as-usual photo. Tomorrow I’ll do my rentrée with the CSP, looking forward to spin my legs a little.

…by a moonlight shadow!

July is almost over, soon the real vacations will be kicking in. We spent already a splendid week at the cottage, with a bunch of friends and a quick cheers to the Tour de France, passing by almost-nearby Cercy-la-Tour. Loads of stand-up paddleboarding in the river, loads of exciting-as-always Tour-de-France TV watching, and also loads of productive work on “my” Lucca app. I also managed to acquire a decent new race bike for growing Max, his new LeBonCoined Merida Reacto 4000 is quite a looker and surely served as a pro vehicle in a previous life. Now a couple of weeks off, and then turning some big pages: Effi will be going to “school”, and Max will be going to the collège… while I’ll continue to spent my day with my new best friend Claude.

It’s been a while that I haven’t updated my Tour de France stage list as a spectator, here we go:

1. 1992 July 12 – Stage 8 – Valkenburg (NL) – Koblenz (DE)
2. 2005 July 17 – Stage 15 – Lézat-sur-Lèze – Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet
3. 2006 July 23 – Stage 20 – Antony – Paris
4. 2011 July 14 – Stage 12 – Cugnaux – Luz Ardiden
5. 2011 July 15 – Stage 13 – Pau – Lourdes (Col d’Aubisque)
6. 2011 July 16 – Stage 14 – Saint-Gaudens – Plateau de Beille
7. 2011 July 17 – Stage 15 – Limoux – Montpellier
8. 2011 July 24 – Stage 21 – Créteil – Paris
9. 2013 July 14 – Stage 15 – Givors – Mont Ventoux
10. 2013 July 17 – Stage 17 – Embrun – Chorges
11. 2013 July 18 – Stage 18 – Gap – Alpe d’Huez
12. 2013 July 19 – Stage 19 – Le Bourg-d’Oisans – Le Grand-Bornand (Col de la Madelaine)
13. 2013 July 20 – Stage 20 – Annecy – Semnoz
14. 2013 July 21 – Stage 21 – Versailles – Paris
15. 2014 July 12 – Stage 8 – Tomblaine – Gérardmer La Mauselaine
16. 2014 July 13 – Stage 9 – Gérardmer – Mulhouse (Col du Wettstein?)
17. 2014 July 14 – Stage 10 – Mulhouse – La Planche des Belles Filles
18. 2019 July 12 – Stage 7 – Belfort – Chalon-sur-Saône
19. 2019 July 28 – Stage 21 – Rambouillet – Paris
20. 2020 September 20 – Stage 21 – Mantes-la-Jolie – Paris (Chaville)
21. 2021 July 2 – Stage 7 – Vierzon – Le Creusot (Signal d’Uchon)
22. 2021 July 3 – Stage 8 – Oyonnax – Le Grand-Bornand (Col de Romme)
23. 2021 July 4 – Stage 9 – Cluses – Tignes
24. 2022 July 14 – Stage 12 – Briançon – Alpe d’Huez
25. 2023 July 20 – Stage 22 – Belfort – Le Markstein (Col du Platzerwasel)
26. 2024 July 19 – Stage 19 – Embrun – Isola 2000
27. 2024 July 20 – Stage 20 – Nice – Col de la Couillole
28. 2025 July 22 – Stage 16 – Montpellier – Mont Ventoux
29. 2026 July 16 – Stage 12 – Nevers – Chalon-sur-Saône (Cercy-la-Tour)