Escape from Inishmore
I cant believe Ive been here on this island six weeks already. But not for much longer. Due to unfortunate and somewhat inexplicable circumstances I will be leaving this Godforsaken island and my hostel abode and workplace of the aforementioned six weeks, in just two days. I can’t say I’m sorry to be leaving and I look forward to what’s ahead – hopefully another job in another place that suits me a little better. Im heading to Doolin (sweet Doolin) next week to meet the owner of the hostel and hopefully if I like them and they like me I’ll jump straight into another hostel job to tide me over the summer months.
Im uncertain how I feel about Inishmore at this point. In the sunshine it’s unbelievably beautiful, but when the rain comes in and the wind is blowing it’s bitterly miserable. And Ive had some good times with some amazing people who have come through the hostel, but Ive also had times when Ive felt alone and unwelcome here. All in all it’s been an experience and I’ll take what I can from it and move on.
On a somewhat less serious note, last night while relaxing infront of my tv in my shed, I was introduced to the extraordinary event that is the Eurovision song contest. Id heard of this in NZ and had a vague idea of what it was but could never have imagined the reality. Let me share. Basically, the competition consists of all the European nations battling it out through song and dance. Thats nothing unusual. The thing is, Im not sure what the criteria is when it comes to the content of the song and dance. There were far too many na nanas and la la laa la laas and ney ne ney ne neys for it not to be compulsory to include non-words for at least half the song. As is it apparently compulsory to sing all harmonies excrutiatingly just out of tune. The dancing and the clothing do nothing to improve the song quality (sample lyric: ‘Lorraine in the rain’ sample group names: Vanilla Ninja, Wigwam, Feminem…). Far too many open shirts, sequins, unneccessary sunglasses (it was held inside) and swoonful looks for any of the acts to be taken seriously – by me at least. Is it supposed to be taken seriously? Does anybody know? The whole thing is intriguing. The acts were so bad I just had to watch to see if they could get any worse! Maybe Im in the dark on the whole thing, maybe its a big joke – I just cant work it out. Though the Irish commentators were sorely disappointed that Ireland didnt make it into the finals ‘Latvia?, come on’ one of them says in disgust as the last finalist is read. Im not sure which ones Latvia were but Im sure they had sequins, bad lyrics and worse harmonies. All in all it was not a comfortable 2 hour experience at all and yet I could not look away. Think a hideously mutant Steps/Wham/Shakira/Gareth Gates monster and you’ll have some idea of the fascinating creature that is Eurovision. Scary.
Tags: Travel
Em
I believe Eurovision is meant to be a bit of a serious pisstake, in that everyone thinks it is naff as, but still kinda secretly wanna win.
Thanks for clearing that up Ro. For everyones info Greece won – and they were actually not bad – in tune at least.