(no subject)
Spent yesterday morning painting the visitors' dressing room at Gosport Borough FC. The club had advertised for volunteers to come and help them do up the ground, but I was the only volunteer who turned up, so there was just me, a bloke involved with the club who was fixing the roof of the Portakabin that's to be the club shop, and Brian the club secretary, who went around doing odd jobs.
In the afternoon my mother and I had our first Mayoral function, wandering round the Friends of the War Memorial Hospital's Fete before doing the raffle draw. One of the stalls had CDs for 50p; I picked up the Friends Reunited 1976 compilation there, which included Randy Edelman's Uptown Uptempo Woman - a song I've been wanting for years - and also Status Quo's Wild Side of Life. Bargain! At the Friends' own stall a lady desperately urged me to buy one of their address books, note pads or flashlights. I just couldn't disappoint her altogether, so bought the cheapest thing on the stall, a Friends of the War Memorial pen for 40p. Further round, a lady on one of the cake stalls persuaded me to buy a slice of her whisky cake - it was quite nice, and its reputation had obviously spread as a girl four stalls further on saw me eating it and said "I hope you've tried the whisky cake." Bumped into Gran at one point, but she just said a quick hello and showed me a funny book she'd bought then rushed off.
We did the raffle draw - my mother won a bottle of wine with a box of chocs - and went out to the mayoral car. My mother sent me back inside to look for Gran and ask if she wanted a lift home, so I removed my civic badge, walked back into the hospital and looked all round the whole fete, but there was no sign of Gran.
To Ann's in the evening for the Eurovision final. When I got there she was making our night's eats - chicken stir fry - so I chatted to her as she cooked. She's looking forward to the World Cup, though she's less optimistic about England's prospects since, in her words, "Wanker broke his foot". She's a bit cheesed off that she's going to miss two of England's three group games through work, though she was a bit mollified when I told her she'd see two of France's group games (she's a huge Thierry Henry fan). I broke the bad news to her that two real cheesy Eurovision pop songs that she would have absolutely loved, Belgium and Portugal, had been knocked out in the semi-final. Ann was mortified. "What's the matter with people?"
We saw Fathers 4 Justice storming the stage during the Lottery draw; none of us was sure what was going on until I spotted the organisation's name on one of the protesters' T-shirt. We ate - Ann did us proud, the stir fry was very tasty and there was plenty of it, so we were all pretty full - as we watched the Contest's introduction and the first few songs. I had suggested to Ann that she make us Greek Tzatziki salad with fried potatoes and grilled meat, as the contest was being held in Greece and it's one of my favourite dishes, but she hadn't been able to get the ingredients, so she said she'd make food appropriate to the host country next year.
During the opening entry, Switzerland, Ann pointed at one of the young men in the group and said "Since when has Justin Timberlake been Swiss?" There was quite a resemblance. Steve had hysterics at the Moldovan song, saying it was just awful; Ann warmed to it as it went on. Steve said he didn't know whether to give Latvia's a cappella number 90% or 10%!
Ann and I both really liked the Norwegian song, the gentle, pleasant elf dance sung by the delectable Christine dressed all in white, and said it might be a winner; Ann wondered "Could we be eating rollmops next year?" Steve exclaimed 'Oh, no!' when Terry Wogan announced that Las Ketchup would be singing for Spain. I pointed out "Why shouldn't they send their international pop stars?"
As Malta was next, Ann said "Well, this is going to be a ballad sung by a sweet-voiced woman." "Actually, it's a bloke," I replied, and Ann and Steve were most surprised that the Maltese had entered quite an upbeat song this year. Just before Germany came on I said "This one's a first - Eurovision Country!" Ann didn't quite believe me at first, but she soon saw what I meant - it was indeed a country song done Eurovision style. We all loved that one.
We liked the Danish entry too. Even though the lyrics were woefully bad (and you really do have to feel sorry for O'Smarty), pretty little Sidsel won us over with her enthusiastic twisting!
When I'd first heard the songs online back in March, I'd been convinced the Lithuanian entry was going to be a total train wreck, but on Thursday, although the group were clearly mad as anything with their morning suits, their megaphone and their incessant chanting of 'We Are The Winners', I'd found myself actually liking it. A lot. Now Ann sat gobsmacked through their performance, then announced at the end, in a believe-it-or-not tone, "I like that one."
We all charged and raised our glasses, looked straight at the TV and sent good-luck wishes to Daz! We were all very impressed with his and the girls' performance, and were sure he'd deliver a Top 10 finish for the UK. Ann was even talking about him winning and how if he did we'd have to go to next year's Contest.
Anna Vissi for Greece was my favourite. She totally owned that stage, belting out her song superbly and making impassioned moves. I was optimistic about her chances.
Next came Lordi from Finland! Steve, a bit of a rocker, obviously loved them from the very beginning. He and Ann laughed out loud at the lines 'It's the Arockalypse' and 'Come the Day of Rockoning'. Ann and I readily confessed to finding them entertaining (and, indeed, when we read our points out we'd both given them points).
Ann wasn't at all impressed with the Ukrainian entry; she said it was just Greece's winning song from last year, though Steve gave it marks on the basis of the lady singer's physical attributes. At the end of the French song, Ann said to the singer "I'm annoyed with you, mademoiselle. That could have been a beautiful song sung by the right person, but you ruined it."
Carola from Sweden impressed us all greatly with her sheer stage presence and performance, and we all agreed that she could well win. "So we'll be eating fermented herring and Krisprolls and drinking Absolut next year."
After we'd cast our votes by text message, I phoned Rob and we all compared notes. Ann confessed, in a slightly shame-faced tone, "I voted for Lithuania." We read our points out - I'd given my 12 to Greece, Steve gave his to Finland, while Ann, Rob and Sue all gave their 12s to Daz! Rob and Sue had both given Finland their 10s. Rob too was truly optimistic that Daz was going to do well. As I was beginning to say bye to Rob, Ann yelled out "You and Sue have got to come with us next year if Daz wins." As I scurried upstairs to the loo, Ann called Steve a traitor for only giving Daz 10. "I only gave him 4!" I pointed out. "Super traitor!" she replied.
From quite early in the voting it was obvious that Finland were going to win! The UK picked up some points from the early countries, but as the points dried up and the UK slid down the page Ann began to give in to melancholy. "Everyone hates us," she lamented at one point (and that was during the vote of Poland who'd just given us a point!) We had a wry grin at the continuation of the ex-Soviet and ex-Yugoslav love-ins, bursting into "Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours" a couple of times. Ann bemoaned the UK's having no friends in Europe. Steve suggested that we need Scotland and Wales to have their own entries; Ann and I pointed out that Scotland and Wales wouldn't vote for England! I said "What we need is the Isle of Man to enter in its own right."
"And Jersey and Guernsey," Ann smiled.
"And the Isle of Wight," added Steve.
We sat back to enjoy the reprise of Hard Rock Hallelujah. Ann predicted there'd be loads of rock entries at next year's contest now; I said we could send Iron Maiden... We had one last glass of wine and I showed Ann my photos from Geneva.
As we said goodbye, I asked whether Ann'd be free to meet for a chat any time soon. Ann explained that she and Steve both work such long hours that they're both bushed in the evenings, and she has to work every second Saturday and every fourth Sunday so likes to spend her free weekend days with her mum. It's all seriously curtailed her social life - she's seen Lisa and Kerry a grand total of once each this year, "so it's not just you."
Doesn't look like I'll be having a heart-to-heart about Miss K2 with Ann, then :(
In the afternoon my mother and I had our first Mayoral function, wandering round the Friends of the War Memorial Hospital's Fete before doing the raffle draw. One of the stalls had CDs for 50p; I picked up the Friends Reunited 1976 compilation there, which included Randy Edelman's Uptown Uptempo Woman - a song I've been wanting for years - and also Status Quo's Wild Side of Life. Bargain! At the Friends' own stall a lady desperately urged me to buy one of their address books, note pads or flashlights. I just couldn't disappoint her altogether, so bought the cheapest thing on the stall, a Friends of the War Memorial pen for 40p. Further round, a lady on one of the cake stalls persuaded me to buy a slice of her whisky cake - it was quite nice, and its reputation had obviously spread as a girl four stalls further on saw me eating it and said "I hope you've tried the whisky cake." Bumped into Gran at one point, but she just said a quick hello and showed me a funny book she'd bought then rushed off.
We did the raffle draw - my mother won a bottle of wine with a box of chocs - and went out to the mayoral car. My mother sent me back inside to look for Gran and ask if she wanted a lift home, so I removed my civic badge, walked back into the hospital and looked all round the whole fete, but there was no sign of Gran.
To Ann's in the evening for the Eurovision final. When I got there she was making our night's eats - chicken stir fry - so I chatted to her as she cooked. She's looking forward to the World Cup, though she's less optimistic about England's prospects since, in her words, "Wanker broke his foot". She's a bit cheesed off that she's going to miss two of England's three group games through work, though she was a bit mollified when I told her she'd see two of France's group games (she's a huge Thierry Henry fan). I broke the bad news to her that two real cheesy Eurovision pop songs that she would have absolutely loved, Belgium and Portugal, had been knocked out in the semi-final. Ann was mortified. "What's the matter with people?"
We saw Fathers 4 Justice storming the stage during the Lottery draw; none of us was sure what was going on until I spotted the organisation's name on one of the protesters' T-shirt. We ate - Ann did us proud, the stir fry was very tasty and there was plenty of it, so we were all pretty full - as we watched the Contest's introduction and the first few songs. I had suggested to Ann that she make us Greek Tzatziki salad with fried potatoes and grilled meat, as the contest was being held in Greece and it's one of my favourite dishes, but she hadn't been able to get the ingredients, so she said she'd make food appropriate to the host country next year.
During the opening entry, Switzerland, Ann pointed at one of the young men in the group and said "Since when has Justin Timberlake been Swiss?" There was quite a resemblance. Steve had hysterics at the Moldovan song, saying it was just awful; Ann warmed to it as it went on. Steve said he didn't know whether to give Latvia's a cappella number 90% or 10%!
Ann and I both really liked the Norwegian song, the gentle, pleasant elf dance sung by the delectable Christine dressed all in white, and said it might be a winner; Ann wondered "Could we be eating rollmops next year?" Steve exclaimed 'Oh, no!' when Terry Wogan announced that Las Ketchup would be singing for Spain. I pointed out "Why shouldn't they send their international pop stars?"
As Malta was next, Ann said "Well, this is going to be a ballad sung by a sweet-voiced woman." "Actually, it's a bloke," I replied, and Ann and Steve were most surprised that the Maltese had entered quite an upbeat song this year. Just before Germany came on I said "This one's a first - Eurovision Country!" Ann didn't quite believe me at first, but she soon saw what I meant - it was indeed a country song done Eurovision style. We all loved that one.
We liked the Danish entry too. Even though the lyrics were woefully bad (and you really do have to feel sorry for O'Smarty), pretty little Sidsel won us over with her enthusiastic twisting!
When I'd first heard the songs online back in March, I'd been convinced the Lithuanian entry was going to be a total train wreck, but on Thursday, although the group were clearly mad as anything with their morning suits, their megaphone and their incessant chanting of 'We Are The Winners', I'd found myself actually liking it. A lot. Now Ann sat gobsmacked through their performance, then announced at the end, in a believe-it-or-not tone, "I like that one."
We all charged and raised our glasses, looked straight at the TV and sent good-luck wishes to Daz! We were all very impressed with his and the girls' performance, and were sure he'd deliver a Top 10 finish for the UK. Ann was even talking about him winning and how if he did we'd have to go to next year's Contest.
Anna Vissi for Greece was my favourite. She totally owned that stage, belting out her song superbly and making impassioned moves. I was optimistic about her chances.
Next came Lordi from Finland! Steve, a bit of a rocker, obviously loved them from the very beginning. He and Ann laughed out loud at the lines 'It's the Arockalypse' and 'Come the Day of Rockoning'. Ann and I readily confessed to finding them entertaining (and, indeed, when we read our points out we'd both given them points).
Ann wasn't at all impressed with the Ukrainian entry; she said it was just Greece's winning song from last year, though Steve gave it marks on the basis of the lady singer's physical attributes. At the end of the French song, Ann said to the singer "I'm annoyed with you, mademoiselle. That could have been a beautiful song sung by the right person, but you ruined it."
Carola from Sweden impressed us all greatly with her sheer stage presence and performance, and we all agreed that she could well win. "So we'll be eating fermented herring and Krisprolls and drinking Absolut next year."
After we'd cast our votes by text message, I phoned Rob and we all compared notes. Ann confessed, in a slightly shame-faced tone, "I voted for Lithuania." We read our points out - I'd given my 12 to Greece, Steve gave his to Finland, while Ann, Rob and Sue all gave their 12s to Daz! Rob and Sue had both given Finland their 10s. Rob too was truly optimistic that Daz was going to do well. As I was beginning to say bye to Rob, Ann yelled out "You and Sue have got to come with us next year if Daz wins." As I scurried upstairs to the loo, Ann called Steve a traitor for only giving Daz 10. "I only gave him 4!" I pointed out. "Super traitor!" she replied.
From quite early in the voting it was obvious that Finland were going to win! The UK picked up some points from the early countries, but as the points dried up and the UK slid down the page Ann began to give in to melancholy. "Everyone hates us," she lamented at one point (and that was during the vote of Poland who'd just given us a point!) We had a wry grin at the continuation of the ex-Soviet and ex-Yugoslav love-ins, bursting into "Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours" a couple of times. Ann bemoaned the UK's having no friends in Europe. Steve suggested that we need Scotland and Wales to have their own entries; Ann and I pointed out that Scotland and Wales wouldn't vote for England! I said "What we need is the Isle of Man to enter in its own right."
"And Jersey and Guernsey," Ann smiled.
"And the Isle of Wight," added Steve.
We sat back to enjoy the reprise of Hard Rock Hallelujah. Ann predicted there'd be loads of rock entries at next year's contest now; I said we could send Iron Maiden... We had one last glass of wine and I showed Ann my photos from Geneva.
As we said goodbye, I asked whether Ann'd be free to meet for a chat any time soon. Ann explained that she and Steve both work such long hours that they're both bushed in the evenings, and she has to work every second Saturday and every fourth Sunday so likes to spend her free weekend days with her mum. It's all seriously curtailed her social life - she's seen Lisa and Kerry a grand total of once each this year, "so it's not just you."
Doesn't look like I'll be having a heart-to-heart about Miss K2 with Ann, then :(