Was this a dereliction of duty? George Hincapie, a native New Yorker and cycling companion of Lance Armstrong's for a staggering 20 year period (they've cycled together since they were young teeneagers) won yesterday's hideously tough 15th stage.
His first stage win in the Tour de France, and possibly his first ever. Not because he is not a good rider, he is one of the best (the fact that he won Sunday's toughest stage of the entire Tour says something), but because his job as a domestique (roughly translated its a servant/domestic worker/worker bee) means all his efforts are for his team leader, Lance. In yesterday's stage he pulled to as much as 18 minutes ahead of Lance's peloton. Bruyneel, when he saw that Lance's group would probably not catch the breakaway group containing Hincapie, allowed him the opportunity, which rarely comes in professional cycling, to ride for himself. He did and won. Armstrong described the day as perfect, and what better way to celebrate a last Tour than having his best and most loyal lieutenant winning a stage, wearing yellow for once.
Can I be accused of a dereliction of duty today? In all the but the first two and last two classes I let the students play hangman. Was just so hot...
I later realised that since I've started working at the school in May, we haven't played a single game! I mean, a game that abandons the books completely. I like to incorporate fun and playfulness into the actual content. Was gratifying to see Peter, one of the most cunning of the naughty students, who also seems particularly clueless when it comes to reading or anything else in English, really participating and trying to guess the letters. Some interesting words and short phrases: Pomegranate, airconditioner, salad, roller coaster and bumpe(r) car, Brachiosauros...
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