On our second day Mara was a bit slow to get going, but in the end we got in the car and drove to Rotterdam. There we took a metro into town, because we wanted to do a walk Mara had found. First of course we had to find the beginning and as we had gotten off the metro early... After a bit of searching, we found an information office who were very kind and printed out a small map so we could follow a route (for some reason it didn't work on Mara's phone).
These types of bikes are quite a regular sight in the Netherlands. The decoration was because of Eurovision.
It was hard to do at times, as it was only a small bit of paper and not all the street names were clear, but I think Mara did a great job finding the route. We didn't do the whole thing though, even though it was only 9,5 km long. By the time we stopped, we had already done over 10 km and Mara was getting tired. But we did get to see some of the more famous sights of Rotterdam.
Note the flag/decoration, that was all through the city.
One of the first we saw were the Cube houses near Blaak station. Yes, they are real houses and real people live in them! I wonder how they sleep, as it all seemed very topsy-turvy, higgledy-piggledy to me.
The bridge was also decorated with song texts from Eurovision
We continued on our walk. We saw an old harbour and new high rise buildings and then we came to the most famous bridge of Rotterdam: the Erasmus bridge, named after the famous Erasmus who was born in Rotterdam.
The River Maas in front. The low building on the far right used to be the Holland America Line terminal, it is now a hotel.
Rotterdam is the only city in the Netherlands which actually has a sky line. Because it was bombed during the early stages of World War II (with the threat of the bombing of other cities, the Netherlands surrendered to Germany), the rubble was mainly taken away and used elsewhere. After the war, the city was rebuilt and now looks very modern.
One family/couple/person in one circle.
From the modern glass and concrete we went to trees and grass. We saw a lady painting, dogs, social distancing circles painted in the grass and in the top photo you can see me in front of the Norwegian church. It used to stand closer to the old harbour, but they relocated it to this spot. And then close by we had our lunch.
The Euromast at 185 meters high. Not decorated, which was a shame.
After lunch we continued and saw this massive huge tower. Mara said she wouldn't mind abseiling from it sometime, but I think she was joking. I hope she was anyway, as there is no chance I will accompany her. Unless there is some really good cake waiting for me on the ground. Then I might be persuaded.
On we went and we got to a small area of the city which had escaped WWII relatively unscathed. An old waterway with older houses/shops on both sides. Plus some really nice artwork as well. But my favourite were the mama coot and cootie that used a shopping bag as their own artificial island. It's not only the people of Rotterdam/the Netherlands who use what they can...
All the benches along this part of the route were decorated.
After that we were close to the main train station and Mara had had enough. There were still a couple of km to do, but we decided to head back to our home for the week. After all, we had to get back in time for the first televised semi-final!
It was that time of year again when Eurovision comes into our lives. And you may know that Mara loves it. And when Duncan Laurence won for the Netherlands in 2019, she was screaming and hollering, waking the neighbours two blocks away and being very very happy.
Ticket for Monday's Jury show, this year
Then the tickets for the 2020 edition finally went on sale and both she and Gera managed to get tickets. Real tickets to see the real Eurovision! They had chosen the jury shows, so they would get the whole proper show, but would be able to see it afterwards on television as well. Money was involved as well.
And then the unthinkable happened: a little round virus was doing the rounds. More and more and more and in the end, the contest was cancelled. The ticket prices were returned and apart from a cd with music: nothing!
However the show must go on eventually and this year it did. With restrictions (only 3,500 spectators per show instead of 16,500), face masks, testing, exclusion of 'at risk' people. The tickets would go on sale first of all for those who had had tickets to the original show. And Mara managed to get one. So did Gera, which she then handed over to Mara as she is still unable to travel to the Netherlands.
The first thing to do on Monday and Wednesday was get tested. Because only a negative test result would allow you in. This was checked against your ID, so faking it was already quite hard. Then everything was scanned (they scanned me specially, I was ok) and we were in! We got bracelets that lit up during the show, but it fit better around my neck.
Tix, the Norwegian entry.
We took our seat and there were people sitting right next to us. Like touching! It was quite strange, but also quite nice to feel 'normal' again, even for a night. And then the show started. The four hosts came on, they introduced the show and then the first act came on. Lithuania! We did wave our little Lithuanian flag for them.
Ticket for Wednesday's Jury show, this year
The songs were great (apart from Romania who couldn't keep her notes right) and we sang along, waved our flags, shouted, clapped and really enjoyed the shows. But we also admired the backstage crew. There was only like two minutes between acts and in that time they would sweep, mop and hoover; take out the old and put in the new sets and then run off again.
The Icelandic delegation had a confirmed Corona case and used this rehearsal video.
On Tuesday and Thursday it was the televised show and it was really good to see the acts again, this time the way they should look and sound: slick and polished and good. Apart from Romania who was still rubbish. Our favourites were Lithuania from show one and Portugal from show two.
Supplies
On Saturday we watched the final at home with Oma and Opa. We all had different opinions on who was the best, but in the end we were all wrong. We all thought the Ukraine (5th), France (2nd), Switzerland (3rd), Iceland (4th) or Portugal (12th) would score highly. But in the end, it was Italy who took home the win! Limp Bizkit style apparently. Next year: Rome (or Hadrian's Wall, which was built by a Roman).
The last ride was done on Friday and then: HOLIDAY! Only a week mind, but it is nice. It would have been nicer had my sister been able to be here as well, but as she can't, me and Brom will have to enjoy ourselves.
As I will be away for a couple of days this week, staying in a nice cottage somewhere, things had to be sorted beforehand. Like a Corona-19 test. Or actually 2 of them. Not necessarily to do with the cottage, but mostly to do with Eurovision.
The Eurovision shows are so-called 'field lab events'. Basically test events to see how things work with larger groups of people. Distance (not necessary once inside), face mask (not necessary when seated or eating/drinking), testing (on the day of the event and five days after). All those things are tried and tested and evaluated.
Which meant that I had to order two tests. One can and will be done close to home, the other one for obvious reasons not. So, I had to find a place where that was possible. Once found, I ordered the test and I am now booked in.
Something else that needed to be sorted was parking. As I am not in the city itself, I need my car to get 'home' again once the show has finished. But parking might be a tad difficult and in the end I paid a bit extra to have a guaranteed place.
Then of course there is my allotment. I have planted all but the last two plants outside now and it looks quite fantastic. There are two guardians, one of which I showed you yesterday, a rabbit in the salad patch and a frog. There should be a bit of rain each day according to the current forecast, but if not my Mum or Dad will have to water the plants. I will be back before they know it.
Other than that I just need to pack my suitcase, get my car loaded up and gooooooooooooo....
Oh, the joy I felt when Duncan Laurence won Eurovision back in 2019. Finally, Eurovision was coming back to the Netherlands. (Fun fact: the Netherlands were the first ever nation to sing at a Eurovision Song Contest, back in 1956). The joy I felt when both my sister scored two tickets and I scored two tickets for the contest in 2020 was equally as big. And then...
Well, you all know what happened then. A tiny little virus that has kept the world in its grip for a good while now. And everything got cancelled because of it. My parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary party, football games, the Olympic Games and yes, even Eurovision.
Roll in 2021 and Eurovision was back on. With or without public, nobody knew at that point, but the show would go on. Then a couple of months ago, the news was pretty good: there might be a chance of actual public being present. Only a chance mind.
On April 1st, I got the news personally that Eurovision was going to have public present. And no, it was not an April Fool's joke. Then I got the news that as I had had tickets originally, I would be eligible to try again this time. Certain groups would be excluded (high risk groups), certain groups would most certainly experience severe trouble in coming over (from abroad, like my sister), so the chances of me actually scoring a ticket for the Jury show of the second semi-final were getting better. As were my sister's, who had been ordered by me to try for the Jury show of the first semi-final, for which she had held tickets.
For the original show, over 16,000 tickets were sold, this time there would only be 3,500 of them. Would I be lucky enough to get a ticket? Last Saturday I was ready and waiting. And the result?
Yes! Yes, to Jury show for the first semi-final (thank you Gera) and Yes, to Jury show to the second semi-final. They had better have Eurovision face masks...
On Monday I was due to make my way to a bar/restaurant/office building. Shortly after arriving I was called in by a psychologist. What were my strong points, what were my weak points, why did I think I would be good for the job. At the end she said that 'if I couldn't do it, her clog would break'. It's a Dutch expression, but it was a good sentiment.
I had only been sat at the table for a couple of minutes, when I was called by somebody else. This time the talk was with two people: one from HR and the other a manager. Why did I want the job? Would I be willing to work all hours of the day? You know the drill.
At the end of those two chats I felt quite optimistic, but you never know do you, with job interviews.
On Tuesday there was nothing out of the ordinary really. Unless you count the time it took for a group to load up (luggage and all) and me moving off again: two minutes!!
On Wednesday I had the visit to Kamp Westerbork, which I told you about on Thursday. A really interesting talk and a good visit. That evening as I got home, I saw that I had received an email: the Monday people thought they had had a lovely chat with me and thought I would be a good fit for the company. I got the job!! Yeah! Details yet to be confirmed.
On Thursday I was off. For a very specific reason: get tickets to Eurovision. Last time I was way late and didn't stand a chance. This time I left nothing to chance: I was at my computer at 9 am, logging in. On the other side of the pond, my sister did the same, albeit a bit later. Twelve noon came and within minutes my sister said she got lucky! She was in for the second of the semi-finals. Alas, the payment didn't work out and she ran out of time. Then she says: I am lucky again, this time for the first semi-final. She got the tickets!
Not long after that I got lucky as well and managed to secure tickets to the second semi-final. We held out for the final after that, but one by one they popped up saying: sold out! Perhaps for the best as well: they were seriously expensive! The money we are saving now will be used to go swimming with the sharks or abseiling from the Euromast in Rotterdam. Ahem.
On Friday again it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. We were on time, the client was on time, everybody was happy. In the evening however, I got a phone call from a colleague. We talk quite often as we get along well, but this time the news was not good. He is also a temp, albeit for a different agency and he and all his colleagues had been recalled due to non payment.
I checked my emails and saw one that was quite worrying from the company I work for now and shortly after that I got a phone call from the planner: the chances of payment were slim, did I want to work Saturday and next week. Well, next week is a definite no-no unless there are serious guarantees, Saturday is okay, with the hope the temping agency is willing to pay me anyway. Unfortunately I have not been able to get in touch with my contact at the agency (it's the weekend), so it's not that good.
I have still not been in touch with anybody from the agency unfortunately. I am quite worried about today, but I still think I will go ahead with it.
It's the future at this point. I should have been off anyway, but now there is nothing waiting at the other side of Sunday! Next week will be a year since I arrived and I am basically back to square one. Albeit with some prospects that are definitely good.
When I lived in Norway, the mother of a friend of mine made me a hat. It was orange and it kept my head nice and warm on those cooler days. However, when I moved to Northern Ireland, I didn't want to keep that hat, as I used it a lot. So, the same mother of the same friend knitted me a pink hat. Which could also be worn on colder days.
I wear that hat a lot. So, when it went missing a couple of weeks ago, I was not pleased to say the least. And the thing was: how could it have gone missing. I had had it in my hands not minutes ago and then it was gone!
Picture this: my friend Pepperfly and I are driving to Amsterdam to see, amongst others, Gali Atari from Israel (see video) at the Eurovision Party. There are plenty of spaces to park, but a sign at the entrance states that it will be closed as of 10 pm. The show doesn't finish until 11 pm. So, Pepperfly parked the car (somewhat), I got out and asked a parking attendant. We would be fine! No new entries, but exits were okay.
I got back to the car, Pepperfly decided she needed a different and better spot and drove around to a different and better spot. We got out, put on our coats and walked away. Hold on, where's my hat? I had it only a minute ago on my lap in the car. It is not in the car. *Sigh*
We walked off anyway, but I wasn't happy about it. That hat had to be somewhere after all. It couldn't have just disappeared into thin air. What if it fell off my lap when I first got out of the car. So, I walked back. But instead of my hat, there was a big big car. Right where we had been.
There was nothing for it: I had to look under the car. And when I did, what did I see shimmer in the distance: my hat! Now to get it back though. Which proved to be a bit more problematic. See, Pepperfly's car is quite small and we had not been parked perfectly anyway. This car was huge and was parked as it should. There was no way I could get hold of my hat.
I did what any self-respecting person who is missing her hat does: I got up, walked around and tried on the other side of the car. Where it proved to be a bit more possible. *Pfew* I had my hat back!
First of all I want to wish everyone a very happy, healthy and good 2020. May your year be filled with fun and laughter. And may it be filled with people helping you through the not so fun times. Remember there is always someone out there with a listening ear, a warm embrace or a glass of wine!
For my part, my year should hopefully be filled with more blogging hours. Last year was frankly atrocious: my lowest number of posts ever, not counting the first year when I only started in August. There are a couple more things I really want to get done this year: find a proper job and find a place to live. I will need the first to get the second, so fingers crossed.
The past two weeks have been filled. First there was the Eurovision concert that me and Pepperfly visited. It was brilliant!! There were a few who decided that they wouldn't sing live, which was a shame, but most of them did and I would much rather hear a note off-key than a voice that definitely didn't fit the face anymore. Honesty is important, in music as in life. The little video is off Katrina (without her Waves), who did sing live and who was fantastic!!
Then after my last week at work, I prepared for my holiday. I was going to stay at my sister's in Northern Ireland for a week and a half. We had planned a lot of things to do: theater, watching television, eat, sleep, breathe, read, crochet/knit, eat some more, drink some. Basically nothing was planned (apart from the theater) and we would just take it the days as they came. I will elaborate a bit more in days to come.
My sister and I baked Christmas cookies, this being my batch
And now I am back home again. The Christmas stuff was taken down this morning, the laundry is going full blast and I am enjoying the last few days of my Christmas break before going back to work next week.
On Sunday I posted several songs that I liked during Saturday's final of the Eurovision Song Contest. There were two acts that I didn't post, one because it was not my taste at all (the Icelandic entry) and one that I will not be able to post anyway.
One part of the final is always the interval act. After all the performers have performed their best (ahem), it is time for the European, Israeli and Australian public to vote. By phone or by app. It takes some time. Once the time allotted is over, the votes need to be counted and verified to make sure there are no mistakes.
Now, during that time you could of course put the screen to black, go to commercials or something. You loose your viewing public within seconds and that is of course not wanted. So, over the years the organising countries have come up with the interval act. A local children's choir, clog dancers, a compilation of the winning songs of that country. Anything to fill the time and as with the main show: sometimes hair pullingly bad.
Sometimes though, the act outshines the show itself. Like when Ireland had to organise the contest after it had won the year before (when they had also organised it due to a win the year before that). It was 1994 and they were looking for an act. In the end they ended up with a troupe of dancers. If you have heard or even seen Riverdance : They started at Eurovision.
Mostly though, the interval acts are as I said before: anything to fill the time. Then a couple of years ago, Sweden had to organise and apparently had enough cash lying about to hire a big star: Justin Timberlake did (part of the) interval act and was brilliant. He was funny, he was nice, he was a showman, he was a singer, he was spot on!
This year it was Israel who had to organise the contest and someone decided to hire another big star. One million dollars later and Madonna had agreed to come do a few songs. She would do an old favourite (Like a Prayer) and a new song. It started off well: the set looked good, the performers looked good. Then she opened her mouth and the whole thing came crashing down. Atrocious. Serhat, the artist performing for San Marino, had been off-key during his performance, but he sounded like one of the Wiener Sängerknaben compared to Madonna!
Fortunately the second song was lip-synched, preventing more bleeding ears.
Yes I know, Marlene Dietrich is no longer with us, but she would have been perfect! Everybody knew and loved her, friend and foe alike.
However, my question is this: why on earth do we have all those foreign (read American) stars. Have we not got any good performers from Europe? Queen are British and even with the American Adam Lambert, they would be a good choice. U2 are Irish and quite well-known. Enrique Iglesias is half Spanish. A-ha is Norwegian, Roxette is Swedish, Aqua is Danish. Even the Netherlands can boast some really decent performers which I bet would be able to do a better job than Madonna. Just a thought to this year's organisers...
As those of you who have followed me for a while know, I am a big fan of Eurovision. Basically the biggest music contest in the world. Watched by a lot of people from all over the world. The premise is easy: make a better world through music. Especially when it was first thought of back in the early 1950's.
Through the years the songs have varied a great deal. A lot of songs have passed through, some absolutely beautiful, others toe curlingly bad. I mean nails on a blackboard stuff. The past few years the voting has become a hot topic, as has the quality of the music/songs. Last year was a return to form though: good songs. Israel won and this year Europe (and Australia) all trooped to Tel Aviv.
I know that those of you who live across the pond are not able to watch the youtube clips I post, but it is well worth a try to try and find them, because they are... memorable.
The contest nowadays consists of two semi-finals and a final. Each semi produces 10 finalists, making 20, plus the 'big five*' and last year's winner, totaling 26 countries in the final. The first semi was on the whole pretty awful. Apparently most of the performers sang off-key at one point or another.
My favourites were San Marino (very off-key, but very fun) and Slovenia. My hate-moment was Iceland which had sent a death-metal group dressed in BDSM in a raunchy sex-club. Waders were big too, no fewer than two had the full version and one had the just above the knee version. Australia had a fairy princess chased by dementors. On sticks if you please! Portugal was off the scale as well with weird clothes and plastic beards.
The second semi was a lot better, for a start, the Netherlands were in it! But also Dirty Dancing by Switzerland, Russia with visible underwear (he had a great song however), Croatia delivered a man who got his wings (literally), Moldova decided to go back to the past and got the sand artist from several years ago out again. Norway had a joiker to join them in a very catchy song. And Sweden sounded like it has sounded for a few years now: good, but same.
The final was on Saturday and I had bought the snacks for myself and a friend and her children. The lists were ready and off we were! Most of the songs I had seen already of course, but some were new (see below). Germany had a song about sisters and I kept thinking: Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby did a better job! Israel looked a bit sinister, Italy was modern and okay yet not my favourite. Iceland (yes, they had made it) was even worse the second time I heard the song. San Marino (yes, he too), was still off-key, Russia's underwear had been addressed apparently as I did not notice it. His song was still good.
After all that, the scoring started. We had been told that the favourites to win were the Netherlands and we started off well: the maximum 12 points from Portugal. After that however it sank a bit and even though we stayed in the top 7, it was definitely not a done deal. When the jury's vote had finished we were in third place, behind Sweden and North Macedonia, but there were only 8 points between number 1 and 3! It was going to be tight.
Then the public vote. Norway had not been a favourite with the jury, but the public loved them: they shot up to first place! Slowly they worked their way to the top until only the last three countries remained: the Netherlands, North Macedonia and Sweden. First up was the Netherlands and they went to first place. North Macedonia hadn't been as popular with the public and went to 7th place. Sweden would need 253 to win. After about five minutes with everybody on tenterhooks, they got their score: 93!
THENETHERLANDSHADWON!!!
I was screaming and shouting and jumping up and down! We had won, for the first time since 1975 we had won! Next year the contest will take place in the Netherlands and I can tell you now: by hook or by crook: I will not be in front of the television, I will be at the live shows!! I can't wait!
*The big five are the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and Germany. They pay most to the European Broadcasting Union and get a free ticket, straight to the final.
Since I still haven't started work, there was time for me to do other things this weekend. As you may have guessed from yesterday's post, it was Eurovision time again and those of you who have followed my blog for a few years, know that I LOVE EUROVISION! Fortunately my sister likes it as well, although she didn't have a pen and paper ready to write down all the peculiars of every song.
Anyway, last Tuesday the whole competition took off in Lisbon, Portugal, because last year's winner (Salvador Sobral) sang the winning song for Portugal last year. Since I live in the UK now and they go through automatically, they wouldn't sing in either of the semi finals, but they were allowed to vote. Unfortunately for us: the first one. Both the Netherlands and Norway were in the second one.
Neither of my two favourites of the first night went through (Belgium and Armenia), although my least favourite song did: Israel. The second semi final took place on the Thursday and as I said had Norway and the Netherlands in it. This time I had three favourites: the Netherlands (not biased at all me), Montenegro and Moldova. I didn't think Montenegro would get through, but the other two did. Yea!
Than came the night itself. Which once again was filled with strange things happening on the stage. There was a coffin type thing (Ukraine), there was metal as in the type of music (Hungary), Vikings (Denmark), a former winner (Norway), a stage crasher (UK), a young and clean Catweazle (Serbia), a €65,000 dress for an opera singer (Estonia, who sang in Italian) and an updated birdy song (Israel).
I have remarked upon it in the past and since last year's winner actually sung in their own language (Portuguese), this year a staggering 12 countries sang in their own language, not being English. And Estonia did a song in Italian. It was glorious! Both Italian language songs ended in the top 10 as well and for once France wasn't far behind (13).
Norway (15th), the Netherlands (18th) and the UK (23rd) didn't do so well. And definitely not as well as the top three! The voting changed last year and that has brought a lot of extra suspense into the competition. First we got the jury votes and at the end of that, Austria led the way, followed by Sweden, Israel, Germany and Cyprus. However, the public votes changed everything!
Sweden was the fourth country to get the points (they went lowest to highest), which meant they were very much out of the running. Austria was the 14th country and went to the top of the board again. It was now between Israel, Germany and Cyprus. The first of those three to get points was Germany and they were just behind Austria. At the end of the scoring, only two countries were left to receive points: Israel and Cyprus. It could go either way, but in the end, Cyprus....
Lost! Israel with the funny noises and the chicken wings and the Japanese nodding cats had won! A good end to a brilliant evening (yes, the song has grown on me). Now I just need to get the cd!
It's that time of the year again: Eurovision! Well, it was last week. By now the winner is safely home, being regarded as a hero. First things first however, the ones I liked and didn't like. Let me say this first though: my favourites usually don't count for much. I tend to pick out the ones that end up in the nether regions of the final, or don't make it to the final at all. So, keep that in mind when reading this post.
During the first semi final a week ago, there were two favourites that stood out for me. Belgium and Portugal. Belgium had a young girl in a dress that seemed to belong to her mother, but she had a beautiful song. Portugal had a young man in a jacket that was probably two sizes too big for him, but he sang a fantastic love song. In Portuguese as well, which meant he got an extra point from me.
During the second final that took place on the Thursday, it was very much samey-samey, but there were a few songs that stood out. Croatia had the most awful song (I thought) sung by a guy who looked too slick and slightly on the creepy side. Norway was a close second on the bad-front, although when I listened to it again, it wasn't that bad.
My favourite though was Romania. Who knew the combination of rap and yodeling was any good? And of course you are wondering about the Netherlands? Well, for me it was neither here nor there. The message was good, but it just didn't do it for me.
Of course the semi finals is one thing, you have to bring it on the night of the final, which was Saturday. All the countries mentioned went through plus the 'big five' (UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany) plus the host country (Ukraine, after last year's win) who were already in.
Anyway, everybody sang their songs, there was a horse head, semi-naked men in a paddling pool, a moon, the always present violins, big dresses, little dresses, a mask and basically it was a good night. Until the voting started and it became brilliant. First off it was the jury's votes. And my favourite got points. Lots and lots of points. And then some more. Something special was happening. At the end of the jury-vote, Portugal was leading by just over 100 hundred points. But everything could be lost easily in the viewer-vote.
They started with the country who got the fewest votes and worked their way up. Even though the jury had given the Netherlands a fair amount of points, the viewers didn't feel the same and only gave them 15. Norway didn't do much better with 29 (they ended on 11th and 10th place respectively). Croatia had not been popular with the jury, but the viewers liked it a bit better, it ended in 13th place. Romania had gotten a bad score from the jury, but the fun of the song made sure it got lots of points from the viewers. It ended up in 7th place.
So, what about Belgium then? It had been in the middle with the jury, but again the viewers liked it better and it went all the way up to 4th. In the end there were only two countries left on the board that hadn't got their viewer scores yet. Bulgaria (who was in second place) with 278 points and Portugal (in the lead) with 382. The next country to be called would most likely be a deal breaker. It was tense, it was exciting, it was Bulgaria with 337 points! Which meant that for the first time in the 53 years of their participation in the contest, Portugal had won! They got 376 points which made them the clear winner with nearly 150 points more than the runner-up Bulgaria!
PS: Salvador sang alone during the final, but for the reprise of the winning song, he asked his sister and writer of the song to join him on stage. I think it's even better! And yes, just in case you hadn't figured it out yet: this was my favouritest song.
Well, not really. But to start with the first thing, I found out my finishing time from yesterday's 5k run. It was 52 minutes and 54 seconds. Nearly nine and a half minutes faster than last year. There was another run I did last year, which had an even better time (51.50), but that is on different terrain. Ie flat. According to Norwegians. But it is a lot flatter and easier than last night's run, so no real comparison.
Today I also got some knee supports. I had been using a sleeve (thank you Yamini), but it was too small, despite being the largest they had. I just have extraordinarily large knees for some reason. Nothing (well, something, but only a small part) to do with my weight, because they were nearly this large when I was underweight! The knee support I got now is basically a bandage that I can wrap around as loose or as tight as I want and need. Fingers crossed.
While I was running (ahem) last night, my parents phoned. I didn't know until I got back home and immediately called back. It was my Mum. With fantastic news. The bits they took out of her had been sent to the laboratory and they all came back negative, ie: clean edges, which means NO CANCER! Yippee! Now it will just be recovery recovery recovery without this scare hanging over her. She was very appreciative of all your (virtual) hugs and well wishes and thanks you all.
And that's basically it for today. Tomorrow I will be off to Kiev (Ukraine) for the third time this week. Eurovision time you know!!!
Now, with all this running and cycling and rowing and walking and other physical stuff I am doing at the moment, I almost forgot the biggest party in the world. The Eurovision Song Contest of course! And this year it was not only broadcast in Europe, but also in Australia (which takes part now, don't ask), China and yes, even the United States.
I found my favourite in the first semi-final: Austria with a beautiful song in French (again, don't ask). Mind you, I think more than half of my points went to her dress as well, because it was just gorgeous! My other favourite was Douwe Bob from the Netherlands, who sang a country song, the only one in the whole competition.
There were a few weird things, like the astronaut, a hoop with two people in it which didn't make any sense and a song that just a lot of 'ponk' noises. But overall, it was quite a muted affair.
In the end, one of my 'right below the favourites' songs won. Ukraine with 1944 which tells the story about how in 1944 the Russians came to the singer's family's home, took them away and put them in one of those horrid camps. They were gypsies as far as I could tell. It was quite a dark song, but she sang it beautifully, both in Ukranian and English.
Numbers two and three were Australia and Russia, both with really good songs. There were some songs though that climbed up the ladder that I just didn't get. Armenia had an awful song (in my ears anyway), but they did quite well by getting to seventh place. Spain decided to go back to the roots of Eurovision and had a lot of lalalalas, it landed them in 22nd place. France sang in English this year and had a really good song, they finished sixth.
And my favourites?? Well, Austria came 13th and the Netherlands came 11th.
A wheelchair, something that looked like a potato sack, huge dresses, simple suits, punk from mentally challenged Fins, some false notes (well, a few more than some), winged shoes, some severe dancing, headphones, corny presentation and of course the endless voting. Which resulted in the end that next year we travel from Austria to Sweden. Because Sweden won. For the second time in 4 years. It must be in their water!! Of course I am talking Eurovision Song Contest now!
Sweden didn't have my favourite number though, even though the act was the best of all and he was certainly very dishy. I loved the Italian entry that ended up third, the Israeli entry that ended up somewhere in the middle and the French entry that ended up close to the bottom. However, it didn't do as bad as the numbers from Germany and Austria who had to share 0 points between them.
Now for a bit of a rant. Over the last two decades there has been much talk about bloc-voting, political voting, own language versus English and a lot of other nonsense. The bloc-voting is slowly disappearing. Cyprus gave Greece only 8 points, even though the Greek entry was a girl who came from Cyprus! And that is only one of several examples.
The British are always complaining about how they don't get voted for because nobody likes them and that is why they end up quite low down the ladder. Well, Britain: get over yourself! Nobody likes Russia, including the millions of gays, lesbians, bis and transgenders in Europe. It came in second this year, because it had a good song! So, instead of blaming others: take the contest seriously and send something good next year! Although I must admit, I quite liked this year's entrance.
And then the language complaint. Which is mainly brought up by France, Spain and Portugal, who all quite standard sing in their own languages and end up down the list. Last year Spain sang in English and woohey, they ended up quite high! I admire their choice of singing in their own language and I expected the French song to do quite a bit better than it did. But, Italy has been singing in Italian for several years and yes, they did well. This year it ended up being third, only a few points behind Russia! I will give those 'English-haters' the same advice as the British: get a good song and get over yourself!
So, basically: if you want to enter Eurovision, take it seriously. Find a good song and a good artist. Just because you're automatically in the final (UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy), it doesn't mean you can take it easy. Remember, by the time the final comes around, we've already heard all the other songs and yours are new! And don't blame the rest of Europe if you don't get first place! Rant over!
As you may know if you've read this blog for more than one year, I have a guilty pleasure regarding the Eurovision Song Contest. I love it. I have all the songs since it first started in 1956. One of the main reasons I bought my iPod was to be able to have all my Eurovision songs together with all my other songs in one place.
Last week this year's cd arrived. On first hearing some of the numbers my heart sank. They all sounded the same. Not an original thought between them. Boring boring boring. And then I listened properly and found there were definitely some blergh numbers, but there were some really good and some very catchy numbers in there as well! I have now listened to them all and I have several favourites: Armenia, the Czech Republic, Italy. My two biggest favourites however are France with a very thoughtful number and Israel which has a silly but extremely catchy number.
Of course me having favourites doesn't mean a thing. The contest is a live contest and people can mess it up big time! Case in point the number above, which was the British entry from a few years back. It sounds fine on the cd. Not winner material, but fine enough. And then they took to the stage and absolutely butchered it. Needless to say it ended last with 0 points!
What do a trampoline, child abuse, a bearded lady (or a man in a dress), a roller skater, a government representative and two sets of twins have in common? Well, Eurovision of course!! And on Saturday it was time again for the annual music fest.
This year I had watched a preview show, both semi finals and of course the final. During the preview show I saw all songs and was quite shocked at one, quite pleased with others and had made my mind up: Iceland and the Netherlands were my favourites. The semi-finals added a third favourite: Austria.
Well, the Netherlands did quite well. In fact they got the top marks from seven or eight countries! I was screaming and shouting and being very very proud. They ended up in second place! Which was deserved. Because number one in my mind and apparently in Europe's mind was Conchita Wurst from Austria. A man in a dress and a full beard. And a fantastic song.
So, next year it's off to Austria. I wonder what songs are in store for us then!
As I finished work today, a colleague stopped me. He had something for me. He had just returned from a short trip home and had found it. A Polish flag! It put a smile on my face!
As I was in the supermarket today, I found the Norwegian equivalent of the Dutch kruidnoten (gingernuts). They looked and felt to be a bit bigger than the Dutch ones, but beggars and choosers and stuff. And besides: it put a smile on my face!
As I got home today and checked my mailbox, I found a package from the UK. A former colleague had found and sent me a British flag! It put a smile on my face!
PS: I asked a Bulgarian colleague about the Bulgarian flag and if he doesn't forget, he would be happy to get one for me! Smile!
PS2: the gingernuts taste a lot more gingery than the Dutch ones (which aren't really gingernuts), but they are nice. Smile!!
Remember the post about Eurovision I wrote a short while ago? No? Well, here is a link to it, so you can reread it.
Anyway, yesterday a Polish colleague told me he had looked in two different shops over the weekend (he was in Poland obviously), but had failed to find a flag. He will however be going back to Poland soon and will have a look in some other shops. So, basically the Polish flag is in the bag.
This morning I got a package in the mail. Containing a flag. Unfortunately an elephant must have sat on it, because the little stick was broken, but a bit of duct tape will soon mend that.
And before anybody asks: no the United States of America do no enter the Eurovision Song Contest. But a flag is a flag is a flag and I can always wave it about when I don't have the flag of the country I should be having a flag of. (does that still make sense?)
