Eurovision – WEIRD

There are lots of weird things about Britain, but Eurovision song contest has to be one of the weirdest! I’ve been aware of it over the years but was never interested and never sat through a whole evening of it. Last night my husband and daughter insisted and I, not knowing what I was getting into, happily agreed. By the end of it all, I felt weary – as if I had lost 24 hours of my life in foggy confusion, astonishment with brief moments of hysterical laughter and only to be saved by the odd humor of the presenter who must have been paid to support the UK because he is actually Irish. Ireland, sadly, came in last. I said to myself, never again.

However, this morning as I write, my feelings have softened slightly. It is after all, a huge part of my husband’s history, he’s grown up with it and one of his all time favorite bands, he informed me, ABBA were catapulted to fame by winning it back in 1974.

To be fair, most of the weirdness came from countries like Romania and Azerbaijan (came in second!!???) and Bonnie Tyler is such a legend respect must be paid. She was, however, clearly much older than many of the other singers and perhaps the demographics of the voters across Europe did her no favors. My favorites were Hungary and Italy. It’s wonderful when they sing in their own language but my husband says it counts against them if they don’t sing in English. Some of the singers were so weird. I mean seriously? Were they really being serious? And why did Greece do so well? The whole thing is still much of a mystery.

I feel my education continues. Sigh.