Freya, Freya vermin slayer

Isn’t it dangerous when books start being banned? Isn’t this just a case of subversion of individual rights? I ask this because today, Amazon (US) declared it would not sell a certain book. It doesn’t matter what the book is. Just the fact that Amazon has decided what it is okay for people to read. That is completely dangerous.

Most interesting is that Amazon is quite happy for me to read Mein Kampf.

A much brighter note for today was the final of Melodifestivalen. This is the culmination of the many rounds of various Swedish regions in the yearly search for an entry for Eurovision. It is one of the biggest family TV viewing nights of the year. (The other being Donald Duck on Christmas Eve.)

We decided to watch the final tonight. We also decided to watch it in Swedish even though there was an English language channel. We wanted to be immersed in the whole experience. Of course, this also meant, at certain points, we had no idea what was happening. Still…

Naturally, I had checked out the finalists on The Local – a bit like I would always read the synopsis before going to the Globe. The Local gave an excellent short history of each of the Chosen Twelve as well as details about the songs.

This meant that I already had a favourite before even hearing a note. Then, hearing her entry, I didn’t change my mind.

That’s Clara Klingenström and her self-penned song, called Do Not Need You Today was obviously heart-felt and honest. I thought her performance was superb and the song, very real. Which, it occurs to me, is probably why she didn’t win.

The rest of the songs were written by people other than the performers. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it does become a bit manufactured. This was very apparent with a succession of males who all looked the same, singing instantly forgettable pop-gum songs.

Anyway, the winner was a 19 year old called Tusse with the song Voices. It was written by a group of people who seem to be involved in quite a few of the songs. The song was very good and a definite contender for earworm of the competition.

The most amazing thing (and obviously nothing to do with Eurovision) is the fact that Tusse (real name Tousin Michael Chiza) was a five year old child refugee from The Democratic Republic of Congo. And, it’s important to note, not with his parents. Somehow he was taken to a refugee centre and, ultimately wound up in Sweden and was accepted as a Swedish citizen.

He was a finalist in Swedish Idol 2019 and the winner of various other contests. His talent is huge but so is his amazing bravery and resilience. Okay, his personal history has nothing to do with his singing, but you can’t help but feel his life has shaped his talent to a large extent. In his 19 years he’s experienced more life than the majority of most Western 30 year olds.

Mirinda’s favourite was a group of dad’s singing an old school Abba type song about not going home. They were very entertaining, extremely appealing and, it’s a bit sad they didn’t win. Mirinda thought Tommy (of the Perfect Swedish Family) could have been one of them.

It was during the final scores tallying that Freya proved her worth.

Since the discovery of mice in this house, she has been constantly on guard. Roaming the lower floor from gap to holes to floor boards. Even when she sits on my lap while we watch the TV of an evening, she is like a coiled spring. The slightest movement or noise and she’s off.

Tonight that training paid off.

A mouse made a break across the kitchen floor and Freya was instantly after it. The mouse changed tack and headed for the lounge, but Emma, in a backing up position, was there pretending successfully to look threatening. The mouse was very soon despatched. We pulled the girls off, praising them.

It was then back to the final results bought to us by the three compères, Måns Zelmerlöw, Shima Niavarani and Christer Björkman. They are all singers and Christer represented Sweden at Eurovision 1992.

All in all, it was a very exciting and entertaining night of TV, though the fact that there was no audience did make a bit of a difference.

I’m usually not one for this type of programme but, I have to say, it was jolly good fun.