Eurovision Song Contest 2008 - Live Voting!

Yes it's Eurovision night again. It has become, alas, a family tradition that we watch it. Oh well. So to keep me amused here, updated live as we go, are the votes of the Interred household jury. Each of us gives a score out of 10 so top mark would be 50. Fat chance of that, I think. But I wonder if there will be one we like as much as "We are the Winners" in 2006?

1. Romania 19 (Sounds a typical Eurovision song)
2. United Kingdom 24 (Nicely sung, shame about the song)
3. Albania 25 (Little W thought this was ace. Not sure why!)
4. Germany 18 (Ouch! The tuning!)
5. Armenia 27 (Nice dress)
6. Boznia-Herzogovena 22 (Amazing hair and skirt behind the washing line - well cool. Like a pantomime dame. A rubbish song but awesome performance)
7. Israel 33 (OMG we thought it was a woman's voice. Is there some gender bending going on here? Little W gave this a 9. He sees things a bit black & white)
8. Finland 34 (Predictably "Well awesome" from Big Miss the rock chick. "Can you drum like that?", "Not yet". Little Miss begged to differ from the rest of us on the score giving it only 3)
9. Croatia 32 ("OMG it's an old guy", says the Missus. Very ethnic. I like it. But what's it about? My favourite so far)
10. Poland 20 ("Her teeth are really creepily white", Big Miss. Why's the band in a jacuzzi? Unmemorable)
11. Iceland 25 ("Oh this had a good beat", the Missus. "Not as cool as Finland", Big Miss. Not my cup of tea at all. "She's well cool. Her shoes are bright pink", Big Miss)
12. Turkey 25 (Nice sparkly guitar. Couldn't sustain interest from me. 7 from the Missus, though)

So here we are half way through with the visit to the green room. "So often the high spot", says Terry W. "The main thing is to shout as loud as you can". Leader here so far is Finland. I can't see it getting beaten. "A welcome moment of fun and frolic", says our host.

13. Portugal 28 ("I give it 1" says Little W after 30 seconds. "Don't you like fat ladies?" asks Little Miss. 9 says the Missus. Not much consensus here!)
14. Latvia 36 ("Aaargh me maties". "Oh wow!" "I give it 10" says Little W, the wannabe pirate. "Time for some tactical voting - I give it 1", says the Missus. I was wrong. Finland has been overtaken, here at least.)
15. Sweden 26 ("I like her dress, 8" - little Miss. "I give it 1", Little W. No - the legs are worth more than that, surely? Very Swedish. Could be an Abba song)
16. Denmark 26 ("I can imagine him being a chimneysweep". Oh-oh. The Missus is now lying out on the settee. We could be down to votes out of 40 soon.)
17. Georgia 19 (She'd better watch she doesn't fall off those stilts. Look at those heels! "That's why she isn't moving much", say Big Miss. "You can't see her eyes behind those sunglasses - 2" says Little Miss)
18. Ukraine 35 ("Are they actually in a glass cage?". I think she wins the prize for the shortest dress. Maybe that's why Terry W thinks this might be a winner. 2nd for us, so far).
19. France 25 (Those boys sound like girls. They are girls! Why have they got beards and mustaches? What the ...? Complete rubbish! Good for comedy value though!)
20. Azerbaijan 23 (Way OTT. Shades of Barbarella, but without Jane Fonda to brighten it up)
21. Greece 32 (Doesn't sound very Greek to me. More Spice Girls than Demis Roussos apart from a brief interlude)
22. Spain 32 (It's spoof Ibiza nightclub. Bring on the birdie song. Top prize for irony from me!)
23. Serbia 32 (Sounds like a travel advert song to me. "It's alright. Not exactly the best song". What's going on with our voting here? 3 32s in a row? I suspect random scoring from the supine Missus.)
24. Russia 29 ("Isn't this the same guy as 2006?" "He looked better with his hair cut". "Wow ice-skating".)
25. Norway 30 (Last one. "Oh god she so looks like Hanne" - a mate of Big Miss. Well as she might look in 10 years or so's time. Yes I knew the Missus would like this one. "Zero", says Little W "10", says Little Miss)

Well that concludes the voting for the Interred jury. Time to phone in now!

"I want to vote for 2". "I want Finland and Portugal" "I vote for Pirate and Pirate", "Norway and Latvia", "Latvia and Finland". Spain and Latvia for me.... How much is this costing me? So have we predicted the winner? Or the UK vote? We'll see shortly!

Here we go...
UK votes. 12 points for Greece? No we didn't get that. But Latvia 2nd.
Macedonia votes. 12 points to Albania. Hmm.
Ukraine votes. 12 points to. I guess... Russia.... I was right!
Germany votes. 12 points to Greece. Oh. maybe it's going to win.
Estonia votes. Got to be 12 points to Latvia... No. It's Russia!
Bosnia-Herzegovina. 12 points to... Serbia. What a surprise (not).
Albania. 12 points to Greece. Next door neighbours.
Belgium. 12 points to Armenia?
UK has now got 6 points. Wow!
San Marino. 12 points to Greece. Oh I think they're going to win!
Latvia. 12 points to Russia. No surprise again!
Bulgaria. 12 points to Germany??????? They were rubbish!
Serbia. 12 Got to be Bosnia... Yes it was!
Israel. 12 to Russia. But it's still Greece leading by 2 points.
Cyprus. 12 for.... Yes got to be Greece.
Moldova. 12 for... Romania. Hmm. Thanks to Michael Palin's New Europe, I know where Moldova is in the map... next to Romania!
Iceland. 12 for Denmark! What a surprise. Well guessed Terry W!
France. Voting in French, naturellement. 12 for L'Armenie.
Romania. 12 for Greece again.
Portugal. 10 points to Spain! 12 to Ukraine.
Norway. 12 to... Denmark. Very Scandinavian!
So Greece or Russia? Who's it to be?
Hungary. 12 to Azerbaijan?
Andorra. How come their vote counts the same as eveyone elses? 12 to Spain. Terry W must be psychic in predicting that! I think not.
Poland. 12 to Armenia.
Slovenia. 12 to Serbia. No real surprise there.
Armenia. 12 to Russia. How did I guess?
Czech Republic. 12 to... mix-up here. Armenia.
Spain. 12 to Romania? Bizarre.
Netherlands. 12 to Armenia. Is it too little too late?
Turkey. 12 to Azerbaijan? That figures.
Malta. 12 to Sweden???? Obviously Abba fans.
Ireland. 8 to UK! and 12 to Latvia. Yey!
Switzerland. 12 to Serbia???
Azerbaijan. Russia, Ukraine. 12 to Turkey?
Greece. 12 to Armenia. "Well they weren't going to give it to Russia were they?" - Terry W.
Finland. 12 to Norway. Some coincidence, surely?
Croatia. 12 to Bosnia. Quelle surprise!
Belorussia. 12 to Russia. Whyever not?
Lithuania. 12 to.... Russia. Looks all over now. Russia 256 Ukraine 209. 12 for Armenia.
That's enough. 2 more to vote, but Russia is the clear winner already. So it's goodnight from me.