The Boy and The Coconut Tree

Today is the 60th anniversary of the Eurovision  Song Contest , a show I've watched most years since 1973 or so. I remember being curled up on my Nana's sofa on a Saturday night with her singing "Save All Your Kisses For Me" to me as I fell asleep, a lovely memory. Now Eurovision has become intertwined with the gay movement and gay society; I love it, we love it. A friend of mine asked me yesterday if I had not grown out of it at 45? I said "bloody hell, no" the day I stop enjoying fun and silliness is the day I lay down in a coffin. In some of the newer entrant countries, it is less of a gay thing and more of a cultural showcase for their popular music.  Most years I either host or attend a Eurovision party, usually a mix of friends from various countries my 2009 party had people from Germany, Norway, China, Spain and Australia, gay and straight, it was fun and today I will be watching it with Americans and Germans, an intriguing mix. Today is Euro...

Hello blog fans, it has been quite some time since I wrote anything. The reason? Nothing more than being distracted by work and life in general. In the past month I've bought a camera that I am struggling to use properly, I've met up with my half-brother who I've not seen since 1996 and I've worked so much overtime that my next holiday is already paid for.  It is raining outside yet sunny, the weather giveth and taketh at the same time. March 1st isn't the first day of spring despite what people think and it doesn't feel very springlike today and I am missing the Mediterranean sunshine This weekend has been full of nice surprises, blasts from my past ranging from my first boyfriend in London who I met 20 years ago to my landlord and friend from Leeds who I first met 22 years ago. It was nice spending time with people who have known me for so long that I don't have to try, there is no need to make an impression and waste energy on that "hope the...

Happy Sunday!

I entered 2015 in the very same place I entered 1995, dancing in Camden with friends; different friends but the friends from 1995 were people I just met in my early days in London, like the friends you make at University in the first term and try to escape in the 2nd. This new year's eve was spent with friends I have known many years and thankfully we didn't sing "auld langs eyne" (or maybe we did and the Prosecco/Vodka haze confused me). I think on January 1 1995 I slept on a mattress in a friend’s living room, this year I was in my own bed, warm and cozy  and no head spin. And this is the random song of the evening (they played it twice): 2015 is only 3 days old and so much of it is already mapped out and familiar. In 2 weeks I start working in my old office in an almost identikit version of my last job, same people, same boss and same hours and part of me is excited and part of me is stressing about it. Are moves backward positive? Most people think not...

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/Happy Hannukkah and hoping that 2015 is a super fantastic year  for all of you!  And here is a Christmas episode of Modern Family, Enjoy!

Today is referred to as " panic Saturday " the last Saturday before Christmas when people do there last minute shopping for gifts and for things that will probably end up in the bin by next Saturday.  The British shopper is keeping the UK economy afloat but I wonder how much of that money is spent on credit cards and on UK made things. We are probably doing more to help the Banks and the Chinese than we are our own country!? I am avoiding the shopping areas of London today and for the next 2 weeks, I don't want to be trampled to death by crazy idiots wanting a reduced wide-screen television in John Lewis. I did the last of my shopping yesterday, I managed to spend £130 in less than 2 hours, a record for me but I used to be a shopaholic and had a lot of pent up buying to do. I found out yesterday that I was going to be in work in January and reasonably paid as well, my salary in January will be 62% higher than it was in November, a huge leap and I had almost given up hop...

It is almost time to say goodbye to 2014 and looking back it won't be a year I will remember well, it certainly had good times in it, I will remember the good times in Barcelona will fondness and my trip to Sicily was great but the bad things about the year will hopefully fade away into nothing. I lost an uncle in August to cancer, not an uncle I was close to but as he was my Dad's older brother it had an impact on us all and when my Dad is down and sad, we feel it. It was hopefully the year that I learnt that dating people more than 10 years younger than me is a mistake, I fell headlong into a short but interesting relationship with 29 year old (Jose) who claimed we had communication problems, he dumped me on Facebook so taking lessons in communication from that idiot is not something I will be doing and I need to remember that my beer goggles are very powerful, they make me ignore all negatives until it is too late. I had fun but the post fun emotional hangover was somethin...