Last Friday, my first full day here, seven of us went to experience the not-very-local cuisine of TGI Friday, which is considered quite a treat here in Kyiv. To be fair, the food was excellent (as were the margueritas), but I felt a sense of shame that it could easily have been the TGI Friday at home in Birmingham. Same decor, same staff uniforms. Don't worry though, I have made amends admirably and partaken of quite a few local culinary delights since. While Andrew was tucking in to 'rabbit and pig fat' yesterday (I kid you not), I was having veriniki (stuffed pancakes) and I have eaten so many delicious dumplings here at Palats Sportu that I am beginning to look like one.

Anyway, the point of this was not to discuss my diet or Ukrainian food. The seven of us wrote down, before seeing any of the second rehearsals from each country, our predictions for the ten songs that would go through from tonight to Saturday's final. Here are the results. Voici les resultats du jury brittanique/irlandais.

Andrew (UK, BBC Radio Forth, Edinburgh)
08 Belarus
09 Netherlands
10 Iceland
13 Norway
14 Romania
15 Hungary
19 Switzerland
20 Croatia
22 Ireland
25 Poland


Chig (UK, Gaytimes, The Pink Paper and thoroughly-good.com)
01 Austria
06 Monaco
08 Belarus
09 Netherlands
10 Iceland
13 Norway
14 Romania
15 Hungary
20 Croatia
25 Poland

Dermot (Ireland, LMFM Radio)
07 Israel
08 Belarus
09 Netherlands
10 Iceland
13 Norway
14 Romania
15 Hungary
17 FYR Macedonia
19 Switzerland
25 Poland

Keith (Ireland, All Kinds Of Everything website)
07 Israel
08 Belarus
10 Iceland
13 Norway
14 Romania
15 Hungary
16 Finland
19 Switzerland
20 Croatia
25 Poland

TV's Roy Delaney (UK, heat magazine, amongst others)
01 Austria
04 Moldova
06 Monaco
08 Belarus
10 Iceland
13 Norway
14 Romania
15 Hungary
20 Croatia
22 Ireland

Franko (UK, of Ukrainian parentage, "assistant to Roy Delaney". It says that on his badge, so it must be true.)
06 Monaco
07 Israel
09 Netherlands
10 Iceland
13 Norway
15 Hungary
20 Croatia
22 Ireland
24 Denmark
25 Poland

Phil (UK, OnEurope website)
01 Austria
04 Moldova
06 Monaco
09 Netherlands
10 Iceland
12 Estonia
13 Norway
14 Romania
15 Hungary
22 Ireland

So, adding them all together, these WERE the ten songs that, collectively, we thought would get through, with the total votes received:

Hungary (7)
Iceland (7)
Norway (7)
Romania (6)
Croatia (5)
Belarus (5)
Netherlands (5)
Poland (5)
Monaco (4)
Ireland (4)

By a stroke of luck, the cut-off point of four votes gives us exactly ten songs.

The number of votes cast for the other songs were as follows:

Austria (3)
Israel (3)
Switzerland (3)
Moldova (2)
Denmark (1)
Estonia (1)
Finland (1)
FYR Macedonia (1)

So that's eighteen in all which received a vote from at least one of us, leaving seven songs which, last Friday, no one thought would qualify:

02 Lithuania
03 Portugal
04 Latvia
11 Belgium
18 Andorra
21 Bulgaria
23 Slovenia

Since the meal, we have now had the predictions of another friend, who wrote them down a couple of days later, after seeing each country's second rehearsal, but not their first.


Mark (UK, BA High Life magazine)
01 Austria
04 Moldova
08 Belarus
09 Netherlands
12 Estonia
13 Norway
14 Romania
15 Hungary
19 Switzerland
22 Ireland


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