Right about now, I'm sure you're asking yourself "What, exactly, is 'Eurovision'"? Well, allow me to explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
Eurovision seems to me like one giant American Idol or Pop Idol competition, with the competitors being one representative act from each participating country. I guess there are qualifying competitions within each country to win the representative spot, followed by regionals (?), semi-finals and the Final Competition, which was held LIVE on Saturday night.
Taking any excuse to have a party, Jonah decided to host a fancy dress (read: costume) party at Lee and Helen's home in Hemel, where they all live (brilliant idea - "host" a party at someone else's home and avoid clean-up duty!) to watch (read: ridicule) the final competition. We even had official
scoring sheets.
Because the UK's entry (a band called "Scootch") was doing a song and dance about flying, the theme was "Air Travel", so we all dutifully gathered the makings of various characters one finds around the airport.
We arrived at Lee and Helen's to find the airstrip ready, and the sign on the door announcing our flight:
"Hemel to Helsinki...1930...Gate 5...Now Boarding" (each year, the winning country of the previous year's competition becomes the new host country. Last year's winner was Finland...thus our flight destination).
Lee and Helen went for the Pilot and Flight Attendant route. It should be noted that (1) the original plan involved Lee as Flight Attendant and Helen as Pilot, but Lee backed out of that idea at the last minute, and (2) Lee had already shed his pilot's suit jacket by the time the camera was pulled out. Apparently, it was already shaping up to be a rough flight. In the end, our plane never left the ground. The UK's entry came in next to last place.
Jonah and I became employees of "Mustang Airlines" (of course!), complete with ID badges and various other company-branded paraphernalia, he as Ground Crew and me as a Gate Attendant.
Finally, winning the prize for best dressed - we had Kevin and Emma. It should be noted that Kevin is a professional costume designer, so I think the rest of us had all lost before we even started thinking about our costumes...but I can't not give full props to their efforts. They had company branded shirts, matching and coordinated outfits, and they even made replica life vests!
Sadly, none of us were aggressively playing the part of "shutter bug", so the pictures here do nothing close to justice for the various costumes and general good times we all had. However, I think Kevin and Emma have set themselves up for some serious competition the next time around. But I'm not competitive at all. Ahem.
"Captain Bucket" as I have dubbed him (I kept calling him "Feather Guy" on Saturday, which just doesn't seem right), who seems to have been raising money for one charity or another and looked quite comfortable as he roamed around Wimbledon High Street with his giant plume hat.
The Captain was very chatty, and we were impressed with his ability to capture the attention of a group of teenage boys and even got them to pull precious metal out of their pockets to donate to his cause! Well done, Captain!
Some flowers near South Park Gardens, a quaint little park hidden away in one of the neighborhoods in Wimbledon. No, we didn't run into Cartman or Kenny.
How English is THIS contraption?? Very, I'm told. I have to admit that's a bit scary, because who wants to be drinking water with a cow potentially in such close proximity? Not me!
And how cute is this little scene? You'd think he was still a 7-year old boy watching Saturday morning cartoons the way he's perched so close to the TV!
