Post Eurovision depression
The dust has settled, the vodka consumed and my husky Marlboro Light voice is the only trace left from the last 5 nights of Ukrainian debauchery.
After Thursday's defeat we partied on regardless and attended the Saturday night final. The atomsphere was electric, with tickets to the event changing hands for up to €270 each. Half of our group adopted Malta, with the other half (including me) rooting for Latvia. Malta finished 2nd and Latvia a respectable 5th, so we did back a winner.
I met Paul G. Sheridan, RTE journalist and EuroGuru, on Saturday night and he was full of facts and figures and analysis of the event. Ireland finished 14th place (out of 26) on Thursday night and the countries coming in the outside 4 places before us were all from Eastern European countries, giving weight to the 'bloc voting' theory. On the flip side, it emerged that the United Kingdom was the only country to award Ireland douze points. I think we can expect an overhaul of the voting system tout de suite.
The after party in the EuroClub was probably the best one throughout the event. Among those I met were Helena Paparizu, the Greek winner, Boris Novkovic of Croatia and Omar Kareem of Slovenia. Among the Irish present were Julian Vignoles and Joe McCaul, Ray D'Arcy, Karl Broderick, Alan Hughes, Keith and Ann O'Reilly with Maurice Hayes and Robert Martin.
Looking forward to Athens next year and in the meantime those attending a U2 concert in Europe this summer will get to see the magnificent Eurovision stage again as the group will be shipping it from Kiev to use on tour.
Question of the weekend: Which member of the Irish delegation was the cause a row at the final after party? This guy is a terrible drunk and always managed to insult people. Hardly the life of the party.
