I love this night. It’s time to remove your cynical chip, kick back and enjoy.
OOhh yes, my evening goes something like this… I LOVE Finland – it was on the day I returned from a business trip to Helsinki that I plucked up the courage to tell my ex-husband that it was over. Oh my, Sweden – I LOVE Sweden. It’s a beautiful country with fantastic people and a great literary tradition. Albania – I have a wonderful friend from Albania, Bonnie! I think you get my drift – I think of all the fabulous locations and remember happy times in them.
The places I’ve never been to I imagine what they will be like based on their entry. (Poland is on now – and they are very colourful!) The Iceland entry is our fave so far – Polloponk rule! Their song is reminiscent of Centrefold, the J Geils Band and their costumes pure Showaddywaddy – I am sure they will become a true Eurovision legend. Let’s face it anyone from a country where it never gets light for three months and never gets dark for three other months – well, you might just end up needing Polloponk’s colourful and jolly ditty.
My one regret is that Cyprus haven’t made the cut so I can’t cheer the country of my birth on and I can’t laugh along with the rest of the Eurovision world when they give Greece Douze Points and Greece reciprocate in kind!
I know it’s fashionable to dis the contest. I have even done so myself. I remember being squashed in the backseat of a mini (a proper mini not one of those monstrosities that you can buy today) with four other people in the car, having just left an Elvis Costello and the Attractions gig at Dunstable City Hall and hearing the news that Bucks Fizz had won…
Despite all that, it’s great “value”. Graham Norton is a worthy successor to Terry Wogan as commentator – my fave quote so far “The next song contains a circular piano. Why? Because it’s Eurovision of course!” Add in the twitter feed, which gets more abusive and imaginative as the evening progresses and you have a heady cocktail of insanity. Brilliant.
My top tip – Austria. A great singer. A memorable face!!!???!!! And an anthemic song.
