The Arc du Triomphe, seen from La Defense

Last year was the first in about 15 that I didn’t make it to Paris, so it was good to get back – even if it was just for a few days either side of heading down to Lyon.

We had initially been planning on a trip to the ballet. Dad’s suggestion on account of the fact that there was something he wanted to see and we had never been, so he came up by train from the south and we did the same from the north via the tunnel and we met in the middle.

Without any ballet tickets.

Turns out it’s incredibly difficult to get your hands on any as there are all sorts of restrictions on who can buy what and when. There is even one day in the booking cycle when it is only open to foreigners and non Paris residents which strikes me as a bit unfair.

Opera Garnier where we would have, but didn’t, see the ballet

Rather unfortunately it coincided with Eurovision. I hadn’t realised this when I booked the train – stupidly – so our first job on arriving on Saturday evening was to find our hotel, dump our bags and then race to the Marais, which seemed the most likely place to find anywhere showing it.

But you know what? It turns out French bars aren’t all that hot on Eurovision. We found two showing it, but only one had the sound turned on. The other was showing the pictures on a telly in the corner with boppy music over the top.

Anyhow, we holed up in the one bar that was showing both halves of the programme and gently sweated through two and a bit hours of songs before hot-footing it back to the hotel for the voting.

Watching is back we didn’t miss much on the interval act although we would like to have heard the UK commentary as it became more and more abundantly clear that we were heading for last place again. Can’t say I’m entirely surprised: the performance was fine but the song didn’t really grab me the way it did Rich.

I wish I understood more of what the commentators were saying as they got very giggly at the national judges giving their scores.

Rooftops of Paris

Anyhow, we met dad the next morning and spent the next couple of days with him, eating cheap meals on the Rue Mouffetard (Bistrot Gourmand, since you ask – €9 for three courses) and training it out to La Defense, which Rich hadn’t seen before. Last time I was there I was late for a meeting at the top of the Grande Arche after my hotel TV, which I’d set as the alarm, helpfully came on muted. Next thing I know, frantic calls to see where I was and several arguments with taxi drivers who were averse to the very idea of heading towards Defense in the rush hour because of la circulation.

No such trouble this time around, leaving us time for a slow walk east through the tall buildings back to the metro by which we hot-footed it to Le Printemps for tea under the dome.

Well, that’s changed somewhat. Gone are the nice old mirrors and the brassware. It’s been considerably moderened up since I was last there ten or so years back and I’m not sure it’s for the better. The one thing they haven’t changed, of course, is that glorious glass roof, and the addition of mirrors on the tables, which I don’t remember from before, is a good one as it means you can easily look up by looking down, so no need to crane.

The dome inside Printemps

I read the first few pages of this book on Amazon. It’s a great start. Two kids larking about in the snow. One throws a snowball and misses the other, hitting the preacher’s pregnant wife instead. She goes into labour, has the child, and in the process suffers some kind of mental upset.

The snowball thrower feels no guilt at all, but the kid he missed finds himself living with the guilt for the rest of his life. This book is the story of that life, and the effect that the guilt has upon it.

Good idea, well executed, and an excellent closure at the furthest end of the book that ties it all up in a neat and satisfying manner. And actually it’s a better ending than I first realised, as it was only a couple of hours after I’d read it that I realised quite what had happened.

But there’s a whole stretch of life in the middle that I’d like to have skipped. I didn’t, of course, or what would have been the point of starting if you weren’t going to read it properly?

So it’s left me a bit undecided. Great idea. Well written. I couldn’t have changed a single word to make it any better. And yet, and yet, and yet… it didn’t grab me. It took too circuitous a route to get from that first thrown snowball to the denouement.

Rating:

When winter is here and the wind is howling, when there’s snow in the air and we’re slipping over on the ice, when the wind is cutting and stinging our eyes and when we’re sheltering from storms as we wait for the train… that’s when I want to remember this scene.

Ten minutes later we found ourselves knee deep in nettles.

I knew we shouldn’t have worn our shorts.

Nobody likes working at the weekend, do they. When you’ve got a silly-short deadline to meet, though, this is surely the best way to do it.

This is irritating.

Slightly more annoying, though, is having to give all sorts of information like your birthdate and your occupation when you report the crime. Why do they need that kind of information?

I finished writing my half of a co-authored book a month or so back, and the publishers are cracking on with it at unnatural speed. It’s almost at the proofing stage, but before they send it back for checking they’ve asked me to pick five of my own pictures then I’d like them to use as openers for my four of the eight chapters.

Here are the five I’ve sent them. Which one do you reckon they’ll decide not to use?

Black cat sign at a Slovenian bar

The Yorkshire Dales

A Portuguese cafe and shop, in Porto

A Spanish sunset

The Angel of the North

Did anyone notice we had an election? If you voted you will no doubt have been disappointed. Tory supporters didn’t get the clear mandate they wanted. Labour did better than some expected, but still got pushed out of Downing Street. The Lib Dems think they’ve done quite well by getting a few cabinet seats, but I suspect that in a few years’ time we’ll see that as a mistake and they’ll become even more obscure than they were before the election.

Nobody else really figured on the electoral radar, apart from the Greens who did a fantastic job of bagging a seat down in Brighton. The first of many, I hope.

The biggest winners, then, seem to have been the broadcasters, who have been camped out on the green outside Parliament for the last two weeks.

The BBC, as ever, is putting on the biggest show as it seems to have moved half of White City to Westminster and boxed it up in a big black spaceship. Sky, on the other hand, is having a little garden party and has cracked open the gazebo. ITV, too.

Kay Burley, from Dancing on Ice, interviews Ken Clarke, Secretary of State for Justice

The ITV gazebo (left) and the BBC’s glossy black spaceship (right)

Enjoy it while it lasts. I can’t see this staying online too long, considering all the copyright naughtyness going on, but it’s the best election broadcast of this year’s campaign.

And if you’ve not voted yet, get out there and do it.

Yesterday I posted five of my top ten tracks from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Here’s the second half of my top 10.

Now the guy who sings for Switzerland does remind me a bit of Glenda Jackson. This is his third association with Eurovision. He came fifth in the German national finals in 1999 and was on the Swiss jury last year. This year he’s singing Il Pleut de L’Or, in French.

A very strange lyrical concept from Armenia, which likens everything to apricot stones. Nonetheless a great performance from an accomplished artist. Deserves to do well.

Moldova‘s entry is very different to last year’s low-tech song. It’s far less folky-traditional and the video has had quite a bit of money spent on it, rather than being filmed in what looked like a school sports hall. A great up-tempo dancy number.

Ignore the mangled grammar in Latvia‘s entry. It’s a brilliant song and the performance is first rate. How do you cry and sing at the same time like that? Subtle and underplayed.

And finally Serbia whose song this year is just so funny. Stick with it despite the slightly jerky beginning. It’ll have you singing oompa oompa stick it up your joompa by the end.

Eurovision 2010 is on at these times:

First Semi Final: Tuesday 25 May at 21h CET
Second Semi Final: Thursday 27 May at 21h CET
Final: Saturday 29 May at 21h CET

In the UK they are all on at 8pm. The semis are on BBC3 and the final is on BBC1.

In the meantime, if you want to order the album, Amazon has it on pre-order for £14.99 right now.

Eurovision 2010 is shaping up to be a great year. We had our traditional preview night on Saturday, and here are my top 10.

Starting with my tip for the top, I reckon Denmark could be a winner. It will be up fourth up in the second semi-final, on Thursday 27 May. Nothing fancy – just good singing and a strong ending that should appeal to anyone who is more interested in the songs than the acrobatics.

Blugaria is a bit of an odd-ball. I think it will suffer from not having a defined ending, but the video is great and the chorus is so simple than anyone can sing it, which is quite important in a Eurovision song. It also mixes electronica and classical, which often does well, and in parts is somewhat reminiscent of Pall Oskar’s Icelandic entry from 2007. So it’s got pretty much all the bases covered.

Albania has a very Goldfrapp A&E video, not that that will count for much on the night. It reminds me a lot of Let’s Get Happy by Lou, who sang for Germany is 2003.

Spain has a guaranteed slot in the final, along with the UK, France, Germany and last year’s winner, Norway. So it doesn’t really need to try, but nonetheless it’s come out with this great circus-themed entry. Love it, plus a great performer whose experience of stage work really pays off.

And finally for today we have Iceland. Iceland often does a great song and last year came a very well-deserved second with a haunting ballad. This year it’s returned to more traditional dancy stuff this entry that deserves to do very well indeed – assuming the performer isn’t grounded by another ash cloud.

That’s the first half of my top ten songs for this year’s contest. Check back tomorrow for the rest.

And if you want to order the album, Amazon has it on pre-order for £14.99 right now.