UK 'wins' Eurovision

"Poor old Josh". Having just crammed three hours of Eurovision fun into around an hour and a half I think Graham Norton got it right when he summed it up with those three little words. Poor old Josh. He didn't deserve to come last and it's true - he did give a very credible performance. They'd tweaked the song and sorted out the pretty naff choreography that left him looking very wooden at the UK final.

Sadly the song, while being perfectly fine, just didn't stand out. Josh put his all into and he sung with gusto and (take note Jemini!) he sung in tune as well, but it clearly just wasn't enough. My favourite was Belgium - the man on his guitar. No gimmicks, just nice singing. Maybe old fashioned but it was very good. Germany didn't do it for me. And if one act sticks out it's got to be the three women whose dresses morphed into butterflies. Brilliant! Take a rubbish song and literally dress it up in a daft frock. A-may-zing.

So what are left with? Well thankfully not the dreaded "nul points" but nonetheless a dreadfully embarrassing last place. Maybe Europe hate us after all. Maybe they have every right to. Who knows? Josh can hold his head high though - he didn't disgrace himself. And actually - maybe we won after all. Perhaps Josh was deliberately saddled with a song that had no chance so that we didn't have to foot the bill for staging the event next year. So in a funny sort of way, given the fact we're constantly being told we have less money than Greece, we did actually win. Cos next year we can still go to the party, but not have to pay for it. I'll get my ticket booked.

Hot drinks are wrong

It's not taken long for my new colleagues to get used to the fact that I don't like hot drinks. Never have. I won't say never will - but after this many years I think it's unlikely.

Despite that most people still find it quite awkward when they're doing a round of drinks and wonder whether to offer me one so I can politely decline or just move on down the desk while explaining to the next person why they've seemingly missed me out.

Part of me wishes I could drink hot drinks but, well, they just leave me cold. They do nothing for me. They certainly don't quench my thirst. Coffee has been known to give me stomach ache. But I'd love to be part of the hot drink gang. I like the idea of it, but a glass of water or a cup of squash is so much more refreshing. The very occasional hot chocolate can be nice, but then I almost class that as food. It's a bit like soup in that respect. It certainly doesn't quench my thirst.

But I do feel sorry for those who can't understand why I don't like the hot drinks in the same way I can't understand why they do. I think it's one we just have to agree to disagree on.

Don't be a gracious loser

Let your feelings show! That's what I say. There's no point being polite and nice when inside you're absolutely furious.

How many times have you seen those star-studded awards ceremonies on TV and when each winner is announced you see the other nominees politely clapping and smiling, seemingly in agreement? It happens all the time, yet you know that inside they're thinking 'That should be me' as said celebrity marches up to the stage with loud applause and a beaming grin on their face. Well not this week. Someone has seen sense and it was a joy to watch!

While catching up on the British Soap Awards I was keeping my fingers crossed that at last Emmerdale might just get the number of awards it actually deserves, but sadly it wasn't too be. EastEnders picked up most of them (yes they did a great live episode at the end of a great 'Who killed Archie' storyline but it was just one episode - not worthy of THAT many awards!) at the expense of some great work by the teams on the other shows.

Particularly good recently was Emmerdale's storyline involving Aaron struggling to accept that he's gay. I don't mind owning up to being moved to tears several times by Danny Miller's excellent portrayal throughout. And similarly I don't mind admitting he had me laughing out loud as the camera showed him rolling his eyes in frustration as the Yorkshire soap showed him and his fellow cast members losing out in almost all the awards to their rivals. The rest of the nominees were clapping politely but his more visible displeasure was much more fun to watch! Good for you Danny!

Role reversals

Have you ever found yourself on the opposite side of a situation that you've experienced dozens of times but from the other angle? Well my new job means I've done that twice this week now and both times it's felt slightly odd.

The first was earlier in the week when I produced my first late bulletin at Calendar. You're basically responsible for writing it, editing the clips of video to put in it and then sitting in the gallery and counting the presenter through the bulletin in their earpiece to make sure it all runs to time. Having been forced to present many a bulletin at Channel M, often without someone counting in my ear and working out my own timings as we went along I appreciate how important it is to have that reassuring voice while you're in front of the camera. 

And for the second .... well when I previously worked full-time at Real Radio, back in the halcyon days when commercial radio stations felt able to do more than the now meagre five minute hourly bulletins, I regularly presented the main afternoon news programme for fifteen minutes at 5 O'Clock. One of my favourite parts of the show was the link-up with Yorkshire TV for a preview of what was coming up on Calendar that night.

Well tonight the inevitable happened when it was me on the other end of the line speaking to my old colleagues (now the presenter rather than the newsreader) about what stories would be making the headlines later on. And how bizarre it felt to hear myself saying similar things that I'd heard countless times before!

The format of the link up is for the radio presenter to link into each of three stories with something like, "You've got more on the murder trial of blah blah blah..." and it was always a running joke that whoever was talking from Calendar would answer each prompt with the obligatory "That's right...." If you're not a member of the media you could be forgiven for thinking these chats are off-the-cuff spontaneous conversations. Anyone in the media will tell you that couldn't be further from the truth. They're well scripted. Both parties have agreed the questions, in fact the one answering them has probably written them. More often than not the "That's right..." get added in as a vain attempt to make them sound more chatty.

So did I sound chatty tonight? Probably not. Will I sound chattier next time? Hopefully. That is once I get my head around being on the other end of that oh so familiar conversation!

Posting a letter

So it's my day off. And it's Tuesday. I feel bad saying that one of the things I most like about my new job is having days off. That makes it sound as though I don't like being at work, but that's not true. Far from it. But what is quite nice is having the occasional day off during the week - the perk of a nine day fortnight.

I had things quite nice in my last job not having to work weekends at all. But since returning to Real Radio on a Saturday morning since Christmas my days off have been few and far between and not working weekends at Channel M meant I very rarely had a weekday day off. And *how* I have missed them. They are so productive.

It must be partly because everyone else is still at work so there is little else to do with my time than catch up on all my odds and ends. So armed with my 'to do' list I started the day aiming to tick off as many tasks as possible. It always seems that on a day off you have a letter to post. Not sure why. But I did indeed have two to post today and a parcel to collect as well. Then there were the utility companies I needed to speak to, the shopping to buy, the washing to do, the doctor and dentist appointments to arrange. I've been cooking on gas! All ticked off.

Then it gets to the evening and I head off for my first run since moving back to Leeds and my first trip to the swimming pool (shameful considering I've been here around a month and it's over the road from my house) and then got a few computery bits of stuff sorted in the evening as well.

There's definitely a lot to be said for weekday days off. Two weeks now to write my next letter to post!