Nature's first green is gold Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

So, the morning after the night before, or rather the 17 days before. Blergh - feels like the world's worst Boxing Day. Just such a superb, uplifting, weeptastic two weeks of sport; makes me feel like the world is not such a bad place after all.

All is takes is for a couple of hundred, ridiculously fit and healthy people in Lycra, tracksuits, swimsuits, jodhpurs, dressing gowns and vests, to get together and duke it out, and peace reigns for a tiny moment. Seems like a good deal to me.

Oh, and we beat the French, Australians and pretty much everyone else too. Hooray.