Singing not shaving

As of last night, the newest fashion statement for enlightened folk is a formal gown accompanied by an extremely well trimmed beard and water proof eye make-up…thanks to Eurovision.

Generally, at this time of year, we just watch the Eurovision scoring, listening to Terry Wogan not taking it seriously and wondering what the songs were actually like. This year we watched the whole thing. Well, to be fair, I watched the whole thing while Mirinda discovered the joys of Twitter. Oh, and Terry Wogan doesn’t do the British voice over any more; his replacement is the delightfully naughty Graham Norton.

The winner of Eurovision 2014 was (drum roll) CONCHITA WURST singing Rise like a phoenix.

Conchita Wurst is the alter ego of Austrian singer Tom Neuwirth. He has an extraordinary voice and sang his heart out. Except as Conchita…so everyone called him ‘her’ and ‘she’. It becomes a bit confusing. It was especially confusing for the Russians who threatened to ban the Austrian performance because of their pathetic anti-gay laws. Clearly they prefer their drag queens to be clean shaven.

Personally, I preferred the Dutch entrant, The Common Linnets but agree with the British critics who condemned their song for being too good and too much a real song rather than the usual Euro pop drivel, bubblegum nonsense, of which there was a lot. The Common Linnets are a Dutch country and western group who spent some time in Nashville. Their song, Calm after the storm is delightfully moody and memorable.

They managed second place, proving that nothing is guaranteed at the Eurovision finals.

Earlier in the day we’d driven over to a couple of tile places so Mirinda could look at tiles for the bathroom. I had to stay in the car and look after Day-z. That worked perfectly for me…and Day-z.

Talking about ‘working perfectly’, I managed to cook salmon with avocado crust tonight, in the amazingly inadequate kitchen at the cottage. This included using saucepans without lids, a strange hat shaped bowl, glass cutting boards and pasta instead of rice. Actually, the pasta was my fault because I forgot to buy any rice. The oddest thing in the kitchen would have to be the dials for the gas rings. They make no sense at all.

Cooker confusion

Hopefully, the image above makes some sort of sense. I find the order of the dials as intuitive as iron ships being lighter than wooden ones…and yet, they are.