Boat trip! (oh and Semi 1 predictions)


Yesterday we were down on the Dnipro river for a lovely little boat trip from around 100 years from my apartment (just at the top of that hill behind the big building) to the Eurovision arena.

Our fab host, a Ukrainian lady of about 70, told us EVERYTHING about EVERY single thing we sailed past - bless her...



We sailed past monuments, bridges, nudists...


As we went past this famous nudist beach on our left hand side the wee guide lady got all flustered and said "Oh my... now you must look on the right at these lovely trees...yes, looking n ow on the right... please everyone LOOK ON THE RIGHT!!!".  We were all howling...

It was another beautiful day, with not a cloud in the sky and a temp of around 25 degrees c.





As we approached the dock by the International Exhibition Centre, where the contest is being held, we could see the full extend of the apartment building which is going on on this side of the city...  It's undergoing massive expansion.


After we docked we decided to sit there for an hour over coffee enjoying the weather and the river views.  Here we are; Hass, Robin, David, Desirée (a Dutch friend) and myself.

 

Later in the afternoon we sat through the first full run through of Semi 1.  I'll just warn you now that the three male presenters are absolutely woeful!  They over emphasise everything in the tired and unfunny script.  If you're watching on catchup later do fast forward through all the bits with them (until they end when they announce the ten finalists).

This has always been the far stronger of the two semis, and casualties are going to be inevitable this evening.  Fan favourites and songs that sounded strong in the preview videos are failing, whilst other less worthy songs are delivering solid performances which are likely to attract jury and televotes.

These, therefore are the ten songs that I predict will go through tonight (and I stress this is NOT my own order of preference):

SWEDEN
GEORGIA
AUSTRALIA
FINLAND
AZERBAIJAN
PORTUGAL
GREECE
MOLDOVA
CYPRUS
ARMENIA

I really dislike the Moldovan song immensely, but it's exactly the sort of cheap tat that the UK in particular think Eurovision is all about.

Portugal, Sweden, Armenia and Finland are likely to Top the voting tonight (although we won't know until after Saturday's final).

There is a growing swell of support for Salvador from Portugal, and many in the press centre are calling it a straight two horse race between Italy (still the hot favourite) and Portugal.

#salvadorable




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