So the annual debacle that is the Eurovision Song Contest is staged in Malmo, Sweden.

As usual the so-called ‘music’ emanating from the various countries which have entered, a surprising number singing in English, is at best third rate, and is nowhere near the high standard achieved in English singing countries, like the UK and the US. Let me qualify that assertion, Euro music is in the main, thump, thump disco style, and is mostly pretty crap. England and the US have always led the way in all forms of music, but the more progressive and rock based has been our forte. The ‘music’ delivered by some of the Eurovision bands is at best sweet and at worse, not even worth listening to  beyond the first 20 seconds. The trouble is, it’s now mostly won by eastern European countries who only a few years were prancing around in flowery, flouncy, lacy national costumes singing folky anthems whilst strumming balaikas and singing in some unintelligible tongue. Then suddenly they are the winners of Eurovision and are supposed to be what is happening in music today. Yeah, go figure. If music be the food of love, play on…but not with the Eurovision, music doesn’t quite describe it.

Wow, no rain, no wind, not much sun but still nice to be outside, get some work done. Rub down the patio furniture, apply raw linseed oil and teak oil, ready for another season of blazing sun and blisteringly hot surfaces; yeah right. I suppose it’ll happen one year, the likes of 1976 only comes around every century or so. For those who say ‘that was before my time (in a stupid small voice)’ so have no experience of that summer, which was the hottest in recent history and is often referred back to whenever a red-top paper has the headline ‘Phew, wot a scorcher!’ This only happens of course when we get temperatures above 25°C, which doesn’t happen too often but then when it does, we’re ‘hotter than (insert normally very hot town)’, and we should be proud that our country can achieve subtropical temperatures. It doesn’t last long but if it lasts more than a couple of weeks, the foreign owned water companies notice a drop in their profits and order a hosepipe ban, rather than building more reservoirs. Can’t have the shareholders being left short. The same goes for the recent shenanigans over the petrol and gas speculators who could have cost each household thousands over the past few years, because they could line their pockets while not giving a toss about the general public who had to dig deeper to fund their extravagant lifestyle. But, will we get that money back? Of course not, but the speculators have made a killing so that’s alright then. Of course its all pure greed. There is a level of income above which no more is needed to live comfortably, but some people don’t think that applies to them, they just want more and more. They will all get their comeuppance some day, I hope.