Germany won.
Correction, Germany won by a mile and the UK came last...
And there I was last week saying how neither country would win the Eurovision Song Contest because no-one would ever vote for either country unless the song was amazingly good.
My reasoning was sound (in my mind anyway) viewers vote for music they like and people they like - this tends to be neighbouring countries because they don't share just current borders but also history. The United Kingdom has no real neighbours, well there's Ireland...and I can quite understand them not wanting to vote for the UK, and then you have to cross the channel...to France - so not Anglophiles.
Billy no mates, that's the UK, and boy on Saturday night did that show through.
Even the French entry, whose only lyrical content seemed to be 'olé' & 'olly' scored 82 points, finishing in 12th and Russia whose song was a depressing dirge scored 90 points, finishing 1 place ahead of France in 11th - but then that bumper crop of points would be thanks to their 'friends' Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Lativa, Lithuania, Moldova, Slovakia, Turkey & the Ukraine, with friends like these who needs enemies eh?
Maybe we (the UK) take it all a bit too seriously?
The German entry has been declared to be;
"the first contemporary pop hit Eurovision has produced in decades"
and went straight to number 1 in the singles chart here becoming Germany's fastest selling digital download EVER. It has also reached number 2 in Austria and Switzerland, no doubt world domination will follow (I'm sure Germany's tried that before).
It is a hideously catchy song, only last week it was stuck inside my head ALL day & only burrowed its way out and into my pillow when I went to sleep, I can't tell you the relief when I woke up the following morning to a Satelllite free head - bliss. Lena herself, is a sweet 19 year old who apparently has no desire to continue in a pop career but wants to be an actress (this is btw legitimate gossip - garnered from her aunt, not just idle tittle tattle from some gossip rag - do you honestly think I would read such things?) whether she'll change her mind now that she's a huge European success remains to be seen.
On the positive side, afterall, every cloud has a silver lining, this does mean that the whole Eurovision circus will be here in Germany next year - I wonder if there's a chance it will be in Düsseldorf or Köln, in which case I should be wanting to go, but I guess it'll be in Berlin, so I'll have to make do with bitching from the sofa again!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday Snaps 16
Last night I was out!
And I wasn't in a bar, oh no, I was at the Fringe Festival in Recklinghausen about 40 minutes up the Autobahn from here.
I'm there again tonight watching The Tempest (directed by Mr Sam Mendes himself) - dead cultured me eh?
This Festival happens every year and every year there's a fair bit of English theatre involved so I'm getting a years dollop of culture in a 2 week period!
So to last night,
we (Muna, Rebecca & I) were in the foyer of a big bank (a bizarre location) to see a performance by 'Our Lady J', who we'd read the reviews for (the love child of Madonna and Meatloaf) but still had not quite expected the glamorous 6 foot plus (including 3 inch heels) sexy transexual who strutted down the aisle to the stage to spend an hour with her 2 (teeny, tiny) male backing singers belting out alternative gospel (gospel for the godless she calls it) It was great fun, although possibly not quite what the rest of the audience (grey haired locals who were probably expecting 'proper' gospel) anticipated - there were 2 little old ladies whispering to each other after one line included the word 'slut' - maybe not a part of their English vocab?
And I wasn't in a bar, oh no, I was at the Fringe Festival in Recklinghausen about 40 minutes up the Autobahn from here.
I'm there again tonight watching The Tempest (directed by Mr Sam Mendes himself) - dead cultured me eh?
This Festival happens every year and every year there's a fair bit of English theatre involved so I'm getting a years dollop of culture in a 2 week period!
So to last night,
we (Muna, Rebecca & I) were in the foyer of a big bank (a bizarre location) to see a performance by 'Our Lady J', who we'd read the reviews for (the love child of Madonna and Meatloaf) but still had not quite expected the glamorous 6 foot plus (including 3 inch heels) sexy transexual who strutted down the aisle to the stage to spend an hour with her 2 (teeny, tiny) male backing singers belting out alternative gospel (gospel for the godless she calls it) It was great fun, although possibly not quite what the rest of the audience (grey haired locals who were probably expecting 'proper' gospel) anticipated - there were 2 little old ladies whispering to each other after one line included the word 'slut' - maybe not a part of their English vocab?
Friday, May 28, 2010
Gefährlich
That's my conclusion, after (almost) 3 years of living in Germany.
That living in Germany is dangerous (gefährlich = dangerous).
You think I'm kidding?
I was just writing (email) to a friend detailing our medical mishaps in 3 years which include;
- 3 broken arms
- 1 broken tooth
- 1 split lip
- 2 operations
A bit excessive don't you think? I reckon we're certainly getting our money's worth from the health system here!
In the UK I think we'd only ever been in A&E with the children once for each child over a 10 year period (and that was for chicken pox gone bad & something else I can't remember) But now I can probably find my way to the Elisabeth Krankenhaus blindfolded (except that wouldn't be a very good idea as it involves driving down the autobahn) & I even know how to get to the X-ray department (röntgen = x-ray) & back again!
Ben was the first to break his arm, in the April or was it May, he was racing his friend back from the eis-cafe on scooters and he crashed into a kerb. The hospital x-rayed it & put it in a plaster - done, nice quick visit.
The second break was Ben again, this time swinging from the underneath of his bunk bed like an ape, slipped and landed on the floor (concrete under the carpet - very hard) broke the arm in exactly the same place (which is apparently very common, which surprised me as after the first break everyone said that it'd never break in the same place again) Hospital, and the same routine, x-ray and plastering, home. Easy.
The third break was Jasmine 4 weeks ago, tea-time, she was dancing in the garden, there was a scream the like of which I have never heard before & truly hope never to hear again, so I kind of realised then that all was not well. The arm wasn't quite as straight as it had been, there was a bump where there shouldn't be. No problem I thought to myself, we ice packed the arm and I took her to hospital, wondering to myself whether I'd be able to make it to a friend's later that evening - it was do-able I figured...
They x-rayed and then we saw the doc. "We need to operate" she said. "Now"
And that was that. Straight up to the children's ward, Jas was put onto a hospital bed and taken off into theatre. I didn't escape the hospital for another 2 days!!
The worst moment for me was after Jas had been given the pre-med to make her dozey and the anaesthetist lifter her up in his arms and carried her round and through to theatre, in films and on TV people are always lifted almost roughly from one bed to another, but this doctor picked her up as though she was his own precious child. This was however counteracted by watching Jas come round from the anaesthetic, a drunken 8 year old is one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed! Slurring, repetition and inane questions are not good in an adult but from a child who's still hooked up to a heart monitor? You have to laugh!
Life in Germany is definitely more dangerous than it was in the UK, but maybe that's because our children are getting older and more adventurous...'cos clearly children never dance in the garden, swing from bunk beds or race on scooters in the UK!
That living in Germany is dangerous (gefährlich = dangerous).
You think I'm kidding?
I was just writing (email) to a friend detailing our medical mishaps in 3 years which include;
- 3 broken arms
- 1 broken tooth
- 1 split lip
- 2 operations
A bit excessive don't you think? I reckon we're certainly getting our money's worth from the health system here!
In the UK I think we'd only ever been in A&E with the children once for each child over a 10 year period (and that was for chicken pox gone bad & something else I can't remember) But now I can probably find my way to the Elisabeth Krankenhaus blindfolded (except that wouldn't be a very good idea as it involves driving down the autobahn) & I even know how to get to the X-ray department (röntgen = x-ray) & back again!
Ben was the first to break his arm, in the April or was it May, he was racing his friend back from the eis-cafe on scooters and he crashed into a kerb. The hospital x-rayed it & put it in a plaster - done, nice quick visit.
The second break was Ben again, this time swinging from the underneath of his bunk bed like an ape, slipped and landed on the floor (concrete under the carpet - very hard) broke the arm in exactly the same place (which is apparently very common, which surprised me as after the first break everyone said that it'd never break in the same place again) Hospital, and the same routine, x-ray and plastering, home. Easy.
The third break was Jasmine 4 weeks ago, tea-time, she was dancing in the garden, there was a scream the like of which I have never heard before & truly hope never to hear again, so I kind of realised then that all was not well. The arm wasn't quite as straight as it had been, there was a bump where there shouldn't be. No problem I thought to myself, we ice packed the arm and I took her to hospital, wondering to myself whether I'd be able to make it to a friend's later that evening - it was do-able I figured...
They x-rayed and then we saw the doc. "We need to operate" she said. "Now"
And that was that. Straight up to the children's ward, Jas was put onto a hospital bed and taken off into theatre. I didn't escape the hospital for another 2 days!!
The worst moment for me was after Jas had been given the pre-med to make her dozey and the anaesthetist lifter her up in his arms and carried her round and through to theatre, in films and on TV people are always lifted almost roughly from one bed to another, but this doctor picked her up as though she was his own precious child. This was however counteracted by watching Jas come round from the anaesthetic, a drunken 8 year old is one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed! Slurring, repetition and inane questions are not good in an adult but from a child who's still hooked up to a heart monitor? You have to laugh!
Life in Germany is definitely more dangerous than it was in the UK, but maybe that's because our children are getting older and more adventurous...'cos clearly children never dance in the garden, swing from bunk beds or race on scooters in the UK!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Ritterfest
We've just had a loooooooooong bank holiday weekend and so clearly there were lots of 'things' going on in the area to keep people occupied (especially as all the shops don't open on bank holidays, except for the bakers that is, honestly bank holidays can be deader here than Sundays are, at least on Sundays the garden centres are open, but on a long bank holiday when you have the time and even the inclination to garden? Not a hope! I had of course forgotten this fact when I drove to the garden centre intent on buying some new summer plants for my sorry looking spring plant pots, ho hum, another job that has to wait for another (non bank holiday) weekend)
As we had visitors this weekend just gone (the outlaws) Simon felt we should make an effort and actually go somewhere and not just laze about in the sun (boo hiss) Ben refused point blank to accompany us and made other plans involving another 12/13 year old boy & scooters, Logan sensibly skulked off to the cellar and we remaining 5 went a Ritterfest.
Der Ritter = knight (medieval styleeee)
Der Fest = festival
Getting the idea?
This particular Ritterfest was held in the grounds of a schloss (castle - but a small scale one, don't go thinking Warwick or Winsdor, actually looking at it now, it reminds me more of a prison than a castle...)
This kind of thing I'm sure goes on the world over, it certainly does in the UK, the Sealed Knot people love a bit of dressing up and re-enacting of civil war skirmishes, the Germans seem to love the medieval era and when they like something they like it seriously. No playing at being a medieval maid/serf/lord with jeans and trainers on under a tunic for them. Oh no. These people had beautifully hand made oufits complete with hand made shoes, the truly serious ones had authentic (I'm guessing here) tents with not a sleeping bag or schlafsack in sight (think sheepskins & rugs instead) open fires abounded and much ale was being quaffed (can't trust that medieval water you know!)
After watching the end of the jousting/skirmish - whatever it was, we got there too late to see the beginning and I couldn't see over the heads of the crowd to actually see any action myself, hence me being a little unsure of what exactly was occuring to cause the cheering! When the fighting had finished we toured the grounds, stopping for Jas to waste 1 euro on betting which house the white mouse (which I'm convinced was a rat - it was huge, and as you know, I do have a good idea of what a rat looks like) would choose, she didn't win, as Ratty chose the house 3 doors down from the one Jas had put her/my money on.
Then onto another game, using miniature catapults that fired corks, Jas had to try and knock as many men on the castle ramparts down as possible, she was very please to win a 'lucky necklace' although I think the stall holder took pity on the girl with the broken arm who had to get her dad to hold the catapult in position while she fired (it's definitely a 2-handed job, firing a catapult!)
Pete (FIL) stopped at the longbow maker and must have started making comments in English to MIL (at least I hope that's how the conversation started, I hope he didn't try his German...) because when we walked back to find where they'd got to the 3 of them were deep in discussion about long bow usage, the musculature of the bowmen etc etc etc - Pete was well up for this conversation as he'd just finished the book Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell, a very, very good book that I thoroughly enjoyed.
We watched
a very good juggler for some time, in fact I think we saw his whole show & we were certainly stationary long enough for Si to burn his face red. The juggler started off with 1 onion (I've never seen an onion so big - maybe that's what the mice eat?) and worked up to 4 or was it 5 onions?
Anyway, then he went onto the more traditional juggling baton thingies but made of wickerwork before the finale, the flaming torches. Again he managed to keep 5 fiery torches airbourne without setting fire to the dry grass or his clothing (I was going to type hair, but I've realised he didn't have any hair under his leather hat...I wonder why?)
By then we were thirsty and stopped at a small tavern for apple juice, diet coke and iced tea (weren't the medieval times advanced?) as we walked away from the tavern we noticed a large barrel at the side but under the canvas roof of the tavern, this barrel was maybe 4-5 feet high and at least that wide, it was not quite full of water and had two people (1 male, 1 female) sitting in it, a medieval hot tub come jacuzzi maybe...Jas of course was the one to get up close and peer down into the water and declare loudly (but in English)
"they're naked"
Germans - they're bonkers!
As we had visitors this weekend just gone (the outlaws) Simon felt we should make an effort and actually go somewhere and not just laze about in the sun (boo hiss) Ben refused point blank to accompany us and made other plans involving another 12/13 year old boy & scooters, Logan sensibly skulked off to the cellar and we remaining 5 went a Ritterfest.
Der Ritter = knight (medieval styleeee)
Der Fest = festival
Getting the idea?
This particular Ritterfest was held in the grounds of a schloss (castle - but a small scale one, don't go thinking Warwick or Winsdor, actually looking at it now, it reminds me more of a prison than a castle...)This kind of thing I'm sure goes on the world over, it certainly does in the UK, the Sealed Knot people love a bit of dressing up and re-enacting of civil war skirmishes, the Germans seem to love the medieval era and when they like something they like it seriously. No playing at being a medieval maid/serf/lord with jeans and trainers on under a tunic for them. Oh no. These people had beautifully hand made oufits complete with hand made shoes, the truly serious ones had authentic (I'm guessing here) tents with not a sleeping bag or schlafsack in sight (think sheepskins & rugs instead) open fires abounded and much ale was being quaffed (can't trust that medieval water you know!)
After watching the end of the jousting/skirmish - whatever it was, we got there too late to see the beginning and I couldn't see over the heads of the crowd to actually see any action myself, hence me being a little unsure of what exactly was occuring to cause the cheering! When the fighting had finished we toured the grounds, stopping for Jas to waste 1 euro on betting which house the white mouse (which I'm convinced was a rat - it was huge, and as you know, I do have a good idea of what a rat looks like) would choose, she didn't win, as Ratty chose the house 3 doors down from the one Jas had put her/my money on.
Then onto another game, using miniature catapults that fired corks, Jas had to try and knock as many men on the castle ramparts down as possible, she was very please to win a 'lucky necklace' although I think the stall holder took pity on the girl with the broken arm who had to get her dad to hold the catapult in position while she fired (it's definitely a 2-handed job, firing a catapult!)
Pete (FIL) stopped at the longbow maker and must have started making comments in English to MIL (at least I hope that's how the conversation started, I hope he didn't try his German...) because when we walked back to find where they'd got to the 3 of them were deep in discussion about long bow usage, the musculature of the bowmen etc etc etc - Pete was well up for this conversation as he'd just finished the book Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell, a very, very good book that I thoroughly enjoyed.
We watched
a very good juggler for some time, in fact I think we saw his whole show & we were certainly stationary long enough for Si to burn his face red. The juggler started off with 1 onion (I've never seen an onion so big - maybe that's what the mice eat?) and worked up to 4 or was it 5 onions?Anyway, then he went onto the more traditional juggling baton thingies but made of wickerwork before the finale, the flaming torches. Again he managed to keep 5 fiery torches airbourne without setting fire to the dry grass or his clothing (I was going to type hair, but I've realised he didn't have any hair under his leather hat...I wonder why?)
By then we were thirsty and stopped at a small tavern for apple juice, diet coke and iced tea (weren't the medieval times advanced?) as we walked away from the tavern we noticed a large barrel at the side but under the canvas roof of the tavern, this barrel was maybe 4-5 feet high and at least that wide, it was not quite full of water and had two people (1 male, 1 female) sitting in it, a medieval hot tub come jacuzzi maybe...Jas of course was the one to get up close and peer down into the water and declare loudly (but in English)
"they're naked"
Germans - they're bonkers!
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