Tour de France's impressions

We don't watch as much of the Tour de France as we used to in previous year. Blame the drugs for this, I guess.

What we enjoyed most though, when we were watching more intensely, were the incredibly picturesque overhead helicopter shots of towns and village all along the course.

What were most stunning were – from a distance – the order and the cleanliness of the communities the helicopter flew over.

If there were a similar Tour of the U.S.A. TV wouldn't show us Camden, NJ or the South Bronx, of course, but we'd see plenty of poor and run-down rural areas with car wrecks spread all around the houses.

By this measure, France stands as a better measure of societal success...