Tour de France in Greenwich

The bikers of the Tour de France rolled through Greenwich on Sunday, and we were there to cheer them on.

It is odd, to say the least, that the Tour de FRANCE would be in London, but apparently, every year the First Stage is mounted in a country other than France, and this year for the first time it was London's turn.

It was a brilliant sight to see the bikers (and their hundreds of support vehicles and buses) pass by, albeit in a flash. If you were one of the unfortunate Starbucks patrons who was standing in the queue from hell, you would have missed them. All credit to the British fans who did not use the biker's passing as an opportunity to shout, "Roids! Roids! Roids!"

About two hours before the bikers, a "Carnivale" rolled through that had a few hundred trucks and scantily-clad women promoting all of the "Official Tour de France" companies. They seemed to have everything covered, sponsorship wise: water, newspapers, cheese, candy, camping sites, eyeglasses. Every once in a while, the scantily-clad women would throw a freebie to the kids. The thing they liked the most was a "Visit Western Australia" ID badge. They liked it so much they spent the rest of the afternoon telling me, "Mom. We need to go to Western Australia TODAY!"

Thing One and Thing Two were inspired enough by the sight of the Tour de France to ask for an afternoon on their bikes. They then raced each other on the play street and announced, "We're racing in the Tour de France."

I decided that it wasn't necessary to make it a genuine experience by testing them for drugs.