Eurovision - Making Your Mind Up!

For all Europeans you'll know and understand what Eurovision is. For those elsewhere, imagine American Idol but with every county in Europe (and a few from outside...but that's another story) represented by a contestant: Then remove 90% of the talent!

For Brits it means something a little different to the rest of Europe. Whilst Europe thinks we look down our noses at the contest the truth is we have a great fondness for it. Yes, we don't take it too seriously but that doesn't mean we don't love it. In fact we embrace the campness, the poor singing, the dance routines of people in native costumes. We applaud the absurd and vote for the maddest entry.

I've watched Eurovision for years, I've hosted countless parties complete with score cards for all but I've never attended... until this year.Today there are two UK/Eurovision Song Contest Announcements:

1) Ageing rocker Bonnie Tyler (she of "Holding out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" fame) will be representing us with a somewhat underwhelming tune called "I believe".

(http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/eurovision-2013-watch-bonnie-tyler-1748466)

2) I shall be in attendance!

( Honest no Photoshop was used here! )

This year's competition is in Malmo, Sweden (last year's winner becomes the host in the following year) and I have my plane ticket booked for Copenhagen, Denmark (which is just across the Oresund bridge), a hire car sorted and most importantly my Ticket for the big gig. Now unfortunately despite my best efforts I wasn't able to get a ticket to the Saturday night final in the stadium. The website and phone number were both chocca and the tickets sold out in just 22 minutes! (I know, who knew it wasn't just me eh?!) So I've plumped for the next best thing. I've bought a ticket to the Jury final on the Friday night. As you may know the votes are decided half by a public phone vote on the night (you're not allowed to vote for your own country) and half by a jury vote - each country has a panel of industry experts as their jury. The jury's make their decisions based on what is essentially the dress rehearsal the night before. And this is the show I'll see in the stadium. It's the same show but I'll have a better seat and be able to share my wisdom of who deserves to win in advance. On the Saturday night I plan to find a big square in Malmo where they're showing the contest and the voting so I can watch there and wave my Union Flag in support of our (hopefully not...) nil point entry. Last year we came second to last. We haven't got far to fall and thankfully as we contribute millions towards the programme it means we get an automatic buy into the Saturday night final (yes there really are semi-finals these days).

So will this year see the new Abba? Will someone like Celine Dion compete for a random country (see 1988 competition)? Will we all be shocked when a Ukrainian juggling skater rapping wins? Who knows!

I'm genuinely excited about going, not just because it will give me a chance to dance in another capital city but because it's good harmless fun. Life is about making memories and I think a few more will be made on this trip. Do I expect us to win: Not remotely. Do I hope we will despite all the obvious signs we won't: You betcha!

If you're going yourself and fancy meeting up or if you're a friend of mine and fancy a few days holiday in Denmark/Sweden then let me know. Real life can take over if we let it so why not make your mind up to do something totally random like this? The spirit of Eurovision is about unity and having a great time. So embrace the crazy... let's go to Malmo this May!