The FINAL Days

On Friday night we escaped the Eurovision bubble and were treated to a fantastic night by a local couple. We dines on a rooftop restaurant and partook in all kinds of Azeri food and even I was persuaded to drink Vodka. When I asked for orange i was told "no juice"!!!!

It would appear in Azerbaijan that you order vodka by the bottle and it comes in an ice bucket and you are provided with shot glasses and lemon. You then raise a toast to something and down your vodka straight. Well it would have been rude to decline. It is amazing what you can find to toast to when you are thirsty. Friendship, Baku, Eurovision........ we were scraping the bottom of the barrel when raising a toast to "Vodka" by the end lol.
We had not taken part in any Karaoke, which we had heard was big in Baku. Our lovely host for the evening Hajji, happened to know a mate who owned the best karaoke bar in town - did not have to twist mine and Paul's are i can assure you. We ordered more vodka then requested our songs.


The microphones get brought to you and you sing from your table and everyone else in the whole club listens to you while you perform. Strange but must hilarious experience. Paul and I sang through a varied repertoire including Son of a Preacher, Fame, Islands in the Stream, I Got You Babe and of course the classics - I Drove all Night and Total Eclipse of the Heart. My friend Toto also came to join us and we had our first experience of The Shish Pipe!!!! - we were told it was all above board and legal and the one that was purchased for us had a pineapple flavour to it.

Took a while to master the technique but it sure was pretty awesome - this turned our to be one of our favourite nights of the whole experience and we were lucky enough to have been treated to the whole evening by our new Azeri friends - hope they appreciate a Greg's Steak bake and a Can of Tennant's if they ever come to Scotland for us to return the hospitality!!!!


We awoke late Saturday for final night - woohoo! I was so excited. After a light lunch in town in the sunshine and an evening report to Kingdom FM, we began to get ready for the big night. We usually join up with a large crown of people to head to the arena but this night Paul and I took ourselves off to The Hilton Sky Bar for a cocktail with a couple of friends where we took some stunning pictures of Baku waterfront.


We were fully decked out in our Union Jack wear and were stopped for many photo opportunities en route. After the Hilton we headed to The Marriot where we were treated like royalty as we sipped our cocktails and posed for photos with passing dignitaries. It made us laugh a fair bit when we posed for a picture only to realise it was Tooji, the Norwegian participant - it was almost 10pm and he was still in the hotel. We wished him all the best from the UK - if only we were to know then what fate awaited both our countries?!?!?!?! - i hope we never cursed you on your birthday Tooji.

The final came and went. The show was spectacular and there was a great atmosphere in the arena. I thought Engelbert put on a great performance and we were really pleased with it in the arena. The Russian Grannies rocked the stage as did Cyprus, Romania and Ireland although not all countries fared so well in the voting. Sweden was a deserved winner on the night and what a great song to win Eurovision - it has already gone No.1 in the UK I tunes chart.
For the UK, it is back to the drawing board again. I never heard the jury final but if rumour is to be believed then, Engelbert's performance was not as good on Friday night and this will have affected his jury vote greatly. We took a risk, a risk worth taking in my opinion, and it never worked out. I also would imagine it is the last we have seen of Jedward in the competition. It was just too much of the same thing from the Irish lads with a song that was not as good as Lipstick. Let's hope the UK and Ireland lick their woulds and come back stronger next year.

I hope you have all enjoyed the blog - I will be back with you all next year from SWEDEN - YAY!!!!!!!

Partying 3 - 0 Sleeping

Well i think somewhere in the madness of the last few days i have missed a blog. I am sure i have only slept enough for one day to have passed but people tell me other wise. I did plan for a quiet night, the evening of Semi 2 Jury rehearsal as I blogged it from the press centre and was to meet a few friends for a quick beer before home but that turned into a hot date with a local boy that partied on into the early hours :-) - oh well it's a tough job but someone has to do it.


I was then up after a few hours to broadcast to the lovely people in the Kingdom of Fife. I put out my plea on behalf of The Netherlands, to gain as many votes as possible for them which you may well now know was totally in vain as they did not qualify.

As usual we headed out for our napkin of death dinner at City Cafe - this time I was decked out in the colours of The Netherlands. No one could have been in doubt where my allegiances lay. I had the Joan minipop icons t-shirts on in bright orange with a red white and blue wig and then flag draped round round me.

I met up with a number of other Joan fans as we made our way to the press centre. We had several papping moments before heading in for the show. We were actually sat behind the stage which gave a very unique view to the show and also meant we could dance for the entire time. As the voting came in it began to be apparent that The Netherlands were not going to make it in and gutted doesn't quite cover my feelings. I did shed a tear I will admit but being the fickle individual that I am, the mention of free beer in the press centre was enough to perk me up. I also caught back up with Dr Jordan who one again graced your TV screens on BBC3 with Sara Cox.

Off we headed to woki our pops until the early hours in the Euroclub. An amusing moment was when Paul was irate at the fact he went to the bar for more beer and remonstrated "would you believe they are saying there is no beer left!!!!" - I pointed out that it was 6am and they were about to turn the music off lol I believe we exceeded our record and my head hit the pillow at approximately 7am our time. This made for a slightly more subdued interview this morning but enjoyable nonetheless. Vanessa from Kingdom FM is also on, on a Saturday afternoon now so I will becoming to you good people in Fife at 1.20pm your time tomorrow to preview the grand final. Having just watched the 1st run through it promises to be a very good and close final - may the best song win!!!!

Semi 1, After Party and the Morning After

Well we had the first semi final last night. It started for us poor folks at midnight so that you good people at home could watch it at the much more comfortable time of 8pm. Paul aka Dr Eurovision (you can catch his blog at www.dreurovision.blogspot.com) and I were dressed up in our Jedward outfits. It proved to be an inspired idea although it took us an absolute age to get into the arena. At one point we had to call for our good friends Monty and Jody to come be our press officers as we were being mobbed by the crowds.


We were interviewed by many TV crews and newspapers including a Finnish paper and yes The Daily Star - my mum will be unbelievable proud. It was an absolute hoot and hence we decided to wear them to the after party also.
It was a great semi final and although there were no major shocks in the qualifiers, they did keep Ireland until last in the golden envelope which was a bit of a nail biter.
Dr Eurovision was then whisked up to the press box to be interviewed for BBC3 and he did a fabulous job. If only they could have seen him 2 hrs later in the Euroclub with me, media whoring for all we were worth. This was my latest night at the Euroclub only leaving at 6.30am to get home for some valuable shut eye before my radio broadcast this morning to the people of Fife.
Before going on air I was asked by the presenter, "Have you managed to meet Dr Eurovision?" - the reaction when I said sure he is asleep in the bed next to me was hilarious - fame has come so swiftly.

This afternoon we headed off to The Hilton Hotel - and before you say it yes i was allowed in. There was a joint press conference between The UK and Ireland and Engelbert finally met Jedward. It was a small intimate affair and was quite informal which made for a nice relaxed atmosphere. I managed to get a question in and Jedward mentioned that they had seen me in my costume when they were wheeled offstage last night. Engelbert gave some invaluable advice to the boys about their career whilst they reciprocated with valuable advice about his hair - all very amusing.



Now it's time for Semi Final 2 rehearsals - I will be in the arena for the first run through and doing a rolling blog at www.allkindsofeverything.ie for the jury final - tonight at 8pm your time.


Don't forget to tune into Kingdom FM at 9.15am each morning this week to hear the lastest broadcast and also Semi Final 2 live on Thursday 8pm BBC3

German Party and Beyond

Well after sitting through the 1st dress rehearsal of the 1st semi final we headed back into town to Otto where we attended the German party. What a great party it was. Unbeknown to me when I left in the morning for the press centre, The gorgeous Roman Lob and his delegation were hosting a party for accredited journalists. I had taken a top out with me to change into so it was pure chance that the top i had chosen looked like a German Beer Wench's outfit.

We drank beer and red wine for hours and were given performances by Roman Lob, Nina Zilli and Joan Franka. I must think of rewriting my AKOE blog because I said about France "there was no need for the naked gymnasts" but then i met one of them who is pictured below and then he showed me his tattoo of all the places he has been and I have decided the more naked he can get the better lol. There was a really good atmosphere and it was around midnight when we thought of heading to Euroclub but we all had the munchies. We thought a wee cheeky McDonald's might hit the spot only to find a whole bunch of UK journalists had all had the same idea - Brits Abroad huh???

We headed out to Euroclub to be told it was dead inside and no one was dancing and our reaction was - we will soon change that. And change it we did. The fact we left the Euroclub at 5am speaks for itself. I met up with my cute little local guy called Toto - I do hope he is not a friend of Dorothy!!!!! He is such a sweetheart - makes a change having straight men in the Euroclub so I was a happy chappy.
This morning I did my first radio broadcast to Kingdom FM. The line was a little dodgy but I think it went well and I will be on the same time tomorrow.

Hump Hump Hump

Well yesterday was the final rehearsal day. Thanks goodness the U.K. were back on top form and Engelbert was singing like the professional we know and love. The stage looks stunning and he was hitting the key change fine. Haven spoken to the delegation they are aware that some tweaks are still required but it is totally game on again. He was lovely in the press conference and I was one of the lucky few to manage to get a picture with him - such a media whore!!!


I went for dinner to our local eatery which has now changed the menu over - we must have been there far too often that they feel they need to put more choices on - it was lush. I had salmon with king prawns. I was flagging badly yesterday after the excesses of the night before so I had a quiet night in the flat but I had been given a download so that I could access BBC Iplayer out here so I managed to get the full recording of Hearts v Hibs in the cup final. Total bliss that was.
This afternoon myself and Nico decided to spend the afternoon chilling in the city. We wandered round the old town and had mojitos. We then came across a stall doing authentic Azeri photos and we could not resist.It was so much fun. Then we bumped into the Dutch Delegation in and around the old town and got pictures with the lovely Joan. A great day spent before watching the first dress rehearsal for semi 1.

Hearts are Having a Party

Well where do i start today. What an amazing day yesterday turned out to be. The Jambos humiliated the Hibees 5-1 at Hampden and Rudi Skacel got 2 goals - I WAS IN HEAVEN!!!!!! I was hurting not to have been there though - was really difficult when very few people out here could understand how excited / emotional i was about it all. So so so so so happy though. We painted the city maroon!!!!

What a way to send me on my way to the opening party. We were totally rushed after staying on late at press centre to watch the Hump in his rehearsal. He is just such a legend - in awe!!!!!!
Paul Jordan had been at home in the afternoon ironing my frock for the big night so it was lying out on the bed when we got in. A quick straighten of the hair, splash of make up and then we glued on the fake union jack nails - I'm sure I had 3 thumb nails on - must have been a proper Fife set of nails.
There were still acts walking up the red carpet when we arrived at the party but we were herded round behind a bus - no red carpet walk for me this year - although i did have a flounce down it on the way out.

The party was pretty disorganised, however there was free booze and cameras so what's a girl not to love? After a little bit of media whoring some of the acts took to the stage. Georgia were fab as were Belarus!!! I now have D3's (artists) picking up after me as the lovely guitarist from Belarus handed me my false nail that had fallen off. He also wanted a picture with me and this is how the conversation went

Belarus Guy - "you need to move in closer to me, I want to see your .. erm  your em - how do i say it?"
Me -  "my breasts?"
Belarus Guy "no no - your dress!" lol lol lol
Just as well he found it funny.

We stopped in at our local kebab stall en route home and had a party with the locals - free kebabs in return for some photo opportunities - fabulous. I had a great night and never spent a penny. Got home at 4am and fell asleep in the kitchen whilst downloading photos - What a Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clear Water = Clear Head

Having been given this morning off for a wee lie in to prepare for tonight's grand opening party, I chose to only drink water in the Euroclub and the result is I feel fabulous this morning. The whirlwinds that are Monty and Jody arrived late last night so a good boogie was had by all. It is definitely a different experience being in the club til 3am when you are stone cold sober but I still managed to end up dancing with no shoes on - it's the best way :-)
So apart from the opening party tonight and of course the wonderful Engelbert Humperdinck's rehearsal, we also have the small matter of the Hearts v Hibs Scottish Cup Final today. I am absolutely pooping myself and for once it is nothing to do with too much prosecco. My nerves are shot to bits and my nails bitten down to the bottom - thank goodness for my £2 primark fake union jack nails for tonight's glam event. Until then I will have to keep the faith in the one and only Rudi Skacel!!!!!!!!!!!! Rudi.......... Rudi........... Rudi..........

The Day of Georgia!!!

Well what a day this turned out to be. There was pandemonium in the press centre as an anti gay group started hacking all the Eurovision websites. One of the longest standing unofficial sites lost 12 years of work as it was shut down completely. Several other sites had problems for various parts of the day as traffic was thrown at their sites to try and down them. Most sites seemed to recover later in the day but with a threat of something "big" on the first semi final everyone is being extra vigilant - i don hope nothing major happens - Paul and I will be dressed as Jedward and any type of explosion would have sequins everywhere.
I left the press centre early to get ready for the Georgian party - always a good one. 2 train loads of red wine had been brought in and some lovely Georgian Cha Cha - Tequila. I had so much Cha Cha that I will be in next years series of Strictly Come Dancing.
We mingled with many of the artists and I am sure we are Georgian TV somewhere.

I had lots of fun with the Belorussians especially Vladimir who told me how to pronounce his shortened name - it was Vulva!!! Now just picture the scene when I explain to a Belorussian that his name means "lady bits" ha ha.

Our next room mate Nico arrived so it was great to see him and we danced until 3am when we were politely asked to leave. We did not take the DJ home with us last night as we did not know him and he might have thought it strange if we made him get into our cab. I am now once again in the press centre a little bleary eyed but diligently blogging away.

The delicate day!!!

Well the press centre yesterday was a challenge as i had had very little sleep and lots and lots of beer wine and prosecco. It was a long day of rehearsals and I did fall asleep during one ha ha.
We got home at 11pm last night and i showered and got into my jammies and decided to give the partying a miss as the Georgian party is today and when they have driven 2 train loads of red wine and tequilla through for it, I wanna be fighting fit!!!!! Tequilla....... it makes me happy.
Baku is definitely a place where people go out late at night. The guys came round to ours at 12.30am after eating and they left and 1.15am to go out to the Euroclub whilst I caught some zzzzzzzzzzzz.
There will be much more gossip to report tomorrow morning I am sure but in the meantime I will leave you some video footage of me joining in as a Maltese backing dancer - spot the glass of prosecco in hand not spilling a drop lol

Night time shenanigans and Slovenia!!!!

I went out to meet a local boy last night who took us to a local club!!! There we were minding our own business when Trackshittaz from Austria walked in and played on the stage. That got the party started. We mixed around with some local people then we headed for the Euro Club. We danced all night again and it is starting to get busy. Kurt from Malta was out and i partook in a dance lesson with him. We also met Soluna from Denmark and Ivi from Cyprus. It is always nice to mix with the participants altho im still gutted that grannies were not out woki-ing their popos. We left again around 3.30am and once more took the DJ home. Think we could be overstaying our welcome at the Euroclub.
I awoke to the lovely vision of Paul Jordan in his gimp mask (he calls it a sleeping mask)!!!!

I then went on a magical mystery tour as I got on the wrong bus. I went all round the back of Baku to places we have never seen. I was the only one on the bus and obviously being a fluent Azeri speaker my shoutings of Arena Arena were going down well. After 40mins they dropped me back at the hilton hotel where i was initially headed for anyway. Finally got into the arena in time to watch the first rehearsal of the day - Slovenia.

Madame Duvet!!!!!

Well last night after a long day (well half day for some) the AKOE team decided to go with friends and enjoy a quiet meal. It was ever so civilised that we all decided to give the Euroclub a miss and recharge our batteries. We all went our separate ways so myself and a few others thought we would give one of the local bars a shot for a quick drink before bed. What an experience this turned into. Within minutes of purchasing our beers and sitting down in a little booth it became aparent that this was no ordinary bar. There were young ladies sitting around pouting and preening themselves. On the dance floor ladies were dancing with themselves into a mirrorred wall and slowly but surly closing in around me and my 3 male escorts - particularly bad choice of phrase i realise. Every so often a young man would join the dancefloor for a dance then leave after jiggling his bits in the mirrorred wall. Yes we had walked into the local knocking shop!!!!!! It was hilarious. The brothel mam kept coming over to empty our empty ashtray - im sure she was waiting for Paul, Garrett or John to get the man nuts (sorry manats) out.!!! I don't know whether i was more shocked at the situation or gutted that no one tried to buy me lol

Day 3 (i think)

After a busy busy first day in rehearsals we headed home at 8pm for a quick snack and then off to the opening of the Euro Club. Paul and I planned to head out at 10.15pm but felt we were not Gin and Vodkad up enough until 11pm.
We walked to the venue - probably a mistake to find (as we expected) that at 12pm it was still very empty. We walked over to speak to our friend Konstantin who was DJ'ing then got a drink and sat upstairs with everyone else. The Euro Club is a fab venue and a great size but looked very barren with no one dancing. Within minutes Konstantin played Zaleilah from Romania and Paul and I were like sod it lets go cut some shapes. We were like the pied pipers as a group of volunteers followed our lead.
There was a them and us line in the dancefloor which felt a bit like West Side Story - this was soon broken and we spent a fabby night dancing into the early hours.
Not entirely sure what time we left but you know it was late when you give the DJ a lift home in your taxi!!!!!
Had a small mishap where i forgot to set the alarm for this morning an woke up at 1pm - oops. Never mind i am here in time for the Russian Grannies!!!!!

Day 2/3

I am choosing to morph these 2 days into one as thats how they have kinda felt considering we travelled through the night to finally arrive here in Baku!!!!
I met up with travelling companions at Heathrow where we had time to grab a bite to eat and a wee drinlie poo before boarding the plane for first leg of the journey. We flew with Turkish airlines and the palne was unbelievavble hot not helped by the fact that no drinks trolley appeared until almost 2 hours into the flight- really not a good idea when you have thirsty Scots on board. Slight embarrassing moment when the trolley dolly offered me beef or chicken and I thought she offered me beer so i answered erm Can I Have A Gin and Tonic? They more than redeemed themselves with the copious amounts of red wine and gin the plied us with once the trolleys had appeared.
We had a 4 hr stop over in Istanbul which we spent relaxing in one of the bars - at this point we ordered 3 litre glasses of beer then changed our watches to Turkish time to find out we were having a liquid breakfast at 5.20am - ak well it was the time difference's fault and not ours.
We left Istanbul at 9am their time and arrived in Baku 1.30pm - adding on another 2 hours time different. By this point my body had no idea which hour of the day it really was or what the heck it wanted to do but we were met at Baku airport bu some lovely volunteers who helped us through the visa process and found us transport and everything went unbelievably smoothly!!!!

Paul and I met our landlady and our apartment is lovely. We headed out for our accreditations so walked the hour journey journey rouns the waterfront and it was absolutely stunning. A lot of work has been put in to get the waterfront looking brilliant. Yes they are still laying pavements and roads and your get close to the arena but the good news is Azerbaijan is definitely The Land of Tottie!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG there are soooooooooooo many hot guys and the good news girls is the appear to be straight - YES STRAIGHT!!!!!!
I am not sure whether large buxom white women are a novelty to them but i seem to be getting stares every where I go - I am loving this city lol lol

We met up with friends for dinner Saturday night and had a lovely meal with a gorgeous waiter tending to my every need. I think Baku is certainly going to be an interesting ride (in more ways that 1)
It is now day 1 in the press centre. The arena gave me goosebumps when i went in. The stage looks fab and it is all things go. For the rest of the rehearsal goss find me at www.allkindsofeverything.ie x

I'm On My Way!!!!

Well folks, another year, another Eurovision, another adventure. This year it is my 5th anniversary of Eurovision attending and we are heading to Azerbaijan. This is one of my most exciting adventures ever!!!
I decided to start of this incredible journey by booking a first class ticket to London  on the train - this was my first good idea. As my 5th anniversary it means I should receive wood and with the look of the guy sitting opposite me that would not be too bad a thing right now :-)
With 4 hours of relative comfort ahead of me I decided I would set up a blog to keep you all entertained on my travels - ok then you may not be very entertained but it keeps me busy and out of trouble.
I have loved the amount of interest this trip has caused. I have never had so many strange and aghast looks when picking up travel money when being asked "are you going somewhere nice?" The traditional "Where you going on your holidays?" question at the hairdressers caused no end of amusement.

So anyway I am on the train. Got me a lovely comfy seat and within minutes of leaving Waverley a starched looking woman ( who i am sure will answer to the name Helga) marched down the carriage and demanded i answer tea or coffee. Had me a lovely coffee whilst listening to the ipod then decided to write to you good people :-)

Just as I flipped the laptop lid I hit the jackpot - the cider trolley - sorry known to most as drinks trolley - came down the aisle - NOW WE ARE TALKING!!!! As I consumed my first Rekorderlig cider, from Vimmerby for any World Scout Jamboree folk reading this, I removed my Olympic Athletes jacket to reveal my Minipop Icons Engelbert Humperdinck T-Shirt. Bracing myself for the major sniggers and glances I expected to receive, I was somewhat put out and upstaged when the man across the corridor removed his lower leg and placed it under the table for safe keeping. I hope this is not an omen for poor Engelbert!!!

I hope to keep you all up to date and entertained through this blog and also hope to update it daily but you know what they say about the best laid plans???? I will be blogging daily about rehearsals at www.allkindsofeverything.ie so u can catch up with all things rehearsal orientated there. For the rest of the nonsense then watch this space xxx