Great Tits - watch in real time

[Beverleyh]

To be honest, most of the music isnt to my taste either, but I do find the whole show and setup rather entertaining, especially the novelty acts, ha ha

[jscheuer1]

Such as? Sounds a little like a circus. Are there jugglers?

[Beverleyh]

Ha, ha - there can be. It depends how much each country wants to get noticed.

These 2 examples of novelty performers are quite tame but they're the only ones that I can think of at the moment -
Jedward (2011) "Lipstick": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLk9unzoM8I (a little bit crazy with too much hair gel)
Scooch (2007) "Flying The Flag": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KAaOxPPilc (a little bit saucy and tongue-in-cheek)

Ultimately it's a song contest but over the years the boundaries have blurred and it has become a bit of a circus in some respects. Politics play their part too - who are Cyprus going to vote for? Greece! Who are Greece going to vote for? Cyprus! (they've done it that way for as long as I can remember).

It used to be that the songs were mainly written about love and world peace and other fluffy things, but then you get the stinkers - one about a penguin from the early 80s springs to mind

Stars emerge (Celine Dion), others fall (Blue), some just bounce around doing their own thing (Jedward - link above)

BUT, some years, it's the intermission that becomes a sensation and is in fact much more memorable than any of the acts themselves - the first time we were introduced to Riverdance was during the 1994 Eurovision intermission: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mC0rWgUqTc I remember it well and got goosebumps watching it, especially towards the end when all the dancers fill the stage Bear with it for the first few minutes because the choir set the ambience.

One of my fave songs is the last one that the UK won with (OK, it was sung by an American but we're not splitting hairs) - Katrina and the Waves (1997) "Love Shine a Light": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR131zARCgk

Anyway, to sum up - The Eurovision Song Contest is a big disco ball of colourful fun, and it's not for everyone, but I enjoy letting it wash over me.

[Beverleyh]

Back to the birds!

There are definitely 6 chicks and they are really cute and fluffy now - mini-adults with tufts coming out the sides of their heads. Everybody say "Aawwwwwwww".

The larger few are exercising their wings inside of the nest box so I expect they'll be flying the nest very soon...

Refresher link for convenience: http://www.dronfield.derbyshire.sch....s/birdcam-poll

[jscheuer1]

Cute! They're all just hanging out unless the big bird (Mom?) shows up, then they all go into a frenzy with their mouths wide open for food. Looks like a crack house.

[Beverleyh]

And they're all falling over themselves to get their next fix.

[Beverleyh]

Aw, the chicks are now fledged. They scrambled out of the nest box to take their first flights on Saturday... Farewell little birds.

It's so much quieter now in the office without them chirping outside. Quite sad really. Oh, well. Roll on next year.

[jscheuer1]

Empty nest syndrome.