The Real Winners of Eurovision 2012

At least in the minds of myself and daughter#2, should have been Russia. They reached the very respectable number 2 place but, darnit! (that's me slapping my knee there) we thought they should have won it. The actual winners, Sweden, were way out in the lead by around a hundred points which is a heck of a lot, but for quite a while we did think Russia had a chance.

When these little old ladies showed up on the stage in their traditional Russian costumes, daughter#2 who currently has a big penchant for anything Russia and is in fact calling herself Russian (the unfathomable ways of the teenager) started saying, 'I'm ashamed to be Russian', and shaking her head, but 30 seconds in these ladies were completely embedded in our hearts. I got up there and danced along with the song, arms pumping just like theirs, lol, and in complete Eurovision tradition the catchy tune stuck into our heads and we learnt the words after the first chorus - during the first chorus even - not hard as there were only a few words in English.

I don't know if the Swedish winners are going to get the same worldwide and enduring acclaim those other Swedish Eurovision winners did, back in the day, you know that little old band which went by the name of Abba, who have never been out of the minds of anyone ever since and is the pub Karaoke favourite after Elvis. Maybe they will, though I'm not so sure.

I'm going to leave you with the Russia entry now, if you haven't seen or heard it already I do urge you to, and do listen to it to the end, you may find the beginning a little, um well, but you'll soon see why it was so good and they even cooked up a little meal at the end, well, isn't that what Grannies like to do? Come on then 'Come on and Dance!

Buranovskiye Babushki, or Buranovo Grannies - Party for Everybody

The Moving In Laws

For the last couple of years my In Laws have been living in France all the while trying to sell, in a very slow market, their large and pretty house. They have had a few problems with their living arrangements while out in France. They wanted to buy a place of their own and searched for a long time, finding instead what seemed to be the perfect place to rent. Unfortunately for them the owners decided to sell this wonderful house with it's large glass room, but at a price far out of my In Laws reach. So the perfect place with it's own swimming pool surrounded by apple orchards had to be abandoned.

Not so long after they finally had a buyer for the UK house and have also found a lovely place to buy in France. It has all seemed so timely, some good luck for them for a change. So, it is the big move for them now.

They have returned to the UK in their little campervan to get things sorted, and as I type The Chauffeur and Daughter#2 are with them helping out. They have their different piles, these items to go to the tip, those to go to charity and those to sell on a driveway sale. The Chauffeur is also selecting what to keep for ourselves. We are slightly hoarderish so really could do with nothing at all, but he's bringing some antiques he simply can't bear to see go, including an early Victorian chest of drawers. We are also acquiring 3 - yes 3 - sets of golf clubs, great when none of us actually play! I'm a little concerned about what else he's bringing home. He didn't let me or Daughter#1 go with him so as to keep as much space left in the car as possible for goodies. I do feel mean, though, as Mother in Law is packing all her fragile bits herself, apparently the moving firm won't do this.

The photo above is the area they live in, the Haute Pyrenees, surrounded on all sides by large mountains, the largest of them being the Canigou. It's lush and fertile, dry in the Summer and snowy in Winter. They absolutely love it there spending much of their time walking those mountains. I'm sure I'll post more photos of the area once they've moved in to their new abode.

The Reflections Post

I am so glad I found out about this challenge. I'm not one for linkys normally but saw a post somewhere or other where this one was mentioned and it caught my imagination. And what a challenge it was. Posting every day even with Sundays off was more difficult than I'd imagined.

Saying that, it was also a practice run for me, that's how I've decided to look at it. Next time there will be a lot more pre-made posts and also a theme - what theme is still to be decided.

Best thing for me about the challenge was meeting other bloggers, especially who were doing the challenge itself as it made for a very close feeling of comradeship, we were all in it together. This feeling was encouraged by the team leaders - Arlee -  who got round to everyone's blogs, and also several of the other team leaders. It was a good feeling to see their names in so many of the comments boxes as I worked around them, as this also gave that feeling of intimacy mentioned just now. Tina, too, with her wonderful email to give us a kinship as part of her team. I've never felt part of any blogging community but this challenge has given me that feeling.

I found a few blogs I have begun to follow, some from the list and some from the comments they had left on other blogs. I'm going to try to work my way through the list for the rest of the year - that's a good idea - leaving the list up giving us all a chance to get round them all.

All in all, looking forward to next years challenge - bring it on!!