Adamski

I think both of my kids would have Moldova as their top song at the moment. (Seen the video several times for that reason too.) I hope that they make it through. Shum by Go_A was my top song from last year (from a pretty strong field overall in my opinion) - actually it's probably my favourite Eurovision entry going back several years.

They certainly can! They're getting printed this week and we're hoping to receive them later in May. Still to finalise the cost, but basically it'll be enough to cover production and shipping, plus a bit to cover shipping a crate of second hand football kit (they have said they are short of some of the basics, and I've managed to source some) back to them in Malawi. Not looking to make any personal profit. Very happy to keep you posted with details once I have them.

This year's Eurovision kicks off this evening with the first semi final. I've always been a Eurovision fan, but I'm particularly clued up on it this year thanks to my Eurovision-daft eight year old. Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Slovenia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Moldova, Portugal, Croatia, Denmark, Austria, Iceland, Greece, Norway, and Armenia make up tonight's semi final. 10/17 to qualify. The semi finals look a bit lopsided I think - this is definitely the tougher one. Albania, Ukraine, Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Norway, Armenia are all likely qualifiers (personally I find the Portugal and Greece songs quite meh, but still...) Also Norway's entry is 'the comedy one' this year. It's two guys is wolf costumes, and that's about as far as the comedy goes unless I'm missing something. Latvia have a strong opening gambit in 'instead of meat I eat veggies and pussy', but the song (basically about being green) doesn't do much from there. I'd mark them down as unlikely to qualify alongside Switzerland, Slovenia, and Bulgaria. That leaves Lithuania, Moldova, Croatia, Denmark, Austria, and Iceland to fight out the remaining three slots in the final - a real range of styles, you could probably make a case for any of them, and probably depends a fair bit on the voting patterns of the countries who get to vote this evening. Ukraine are odds-on to win the whole thing. They'll scoop up the phone vote due to sympathy over the Russian invasion, and the song is decent enough to make it into the top 10 of a lot of juries. Sweden, Spain and the UK are probably the next most likely if the impact of the war is overstated. In the first couple of days of Russia's invasion I posted on the thread about the war that Ukraine must be a good bet to win this. It was about 6/1 at the time - I wish I'd had a bet. Armenia is my pick for an outsider to watch. It's sweet, folky, a bit Lumineers-esque. Probably hasn't made many waves among hardcore Eurovision fans, but will probably go down quite well with the casual viewers/voters who will tune in on the night. I'll get a decent payout from the bookies if it finishes in the top 4. Estonia might do a bit better than the odds suggest as well.

Quick update to what I posted the other day (don't worry, I'm not about to start spamming this thread with endless Malawi-related posts - maybe just the odd one here and there)... A 2-0 win for the Leopards on Sunday at home to Sable Farming - a team with the most curious club crest I've seen for a while. I can't decide if that's a pile of potatoes or bread rolls featuring front and centre. The win moves Rumphi out of the relegation zone and up to 11th in the table. Champions Nyasa Big Bullets lead the way. Two more goals for Trouble Kajani - top scorer in the league now. Fairly rattling them in for a struggling team, and fans calling for him to be called up to the national squad.

I posted about this on another thread, but this is probably where it belongs... As I've mentioned in a couple of other corners of the forum, I'm a scientist working on infectious diseases in Africa. Over the past few years, sleeping sickness cases have been rising in Malawi, and I'm involved in a string of projects investigating the causes, and what can be done to lower case numbers. Alongside the core research, we've been doing public engagement work in the affected communities: hearing people's experience of the disease, and discussing the research we do. The area of Malawi most affected by sleeping sickness is Rumphi District, and I got talking to the local football team about helping spread the word on the work we are doing... Rumphi United, 'The Leopards of Chikulamayembe' only formed in 2019, but they've made great strides since: becoming champions of their region and gaining promotion to the Super League of Malawi - the top league of Malawian football. There, they're up against Malawi's big two from Blantyre: Nyasa Big Bullets and Mighty Wanderers, as well as a host of other fantastically-named clubs. Quite fittingly for a team called Rumphi United from a town called Rumphi in a district called Rumphi, the team play at Rumphi Stadium, with crowds of around 5000 at some of the games so far. Discussions with Rumphi United developed to me noticing that they currently don't have a shirt sponsor, and soon I was getting ideas about how filling that space might demonstrate our links to the community and widen publicity about our work when photos and videos of the team appeared in the media. Also, of course,, the idea of being the shirt sponsor of a top-level African football team totally floated my football anorak boat. Rumphi United kicked off their 2022 league campaign last month with kits carrying the logo of the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology (the centre in Glasgow where I do my research) and a web address for the Centre's public engagement work (WCIPscience.info). Life in the top league has been a bit of a struggle, and the team are currently in 14th place out of 16 (with two wins from eight games: the highlight so for being a comprehensive 3-0 win over Waka Waka Tigers (I did mention that the names in this league are rather good). Trouble Kajani is the main man in the team, with five goals so far. I really hope that they play the Taylor Swift song whenever he scores, but realistically that probably doesn't happen. A tough season ahead, but a new Scottish supporters club to cheer them on. I've had several people asking me for a shirt, and just organised for a batch of 50 to be shipped across. Also I'm heading over there in October and hoping to make it to two or three games. https://www.facebook.com/Rumphi-United-FC-104149408493557

I've been twice - most recently November 2019. You can easily spend a day or two wandering around the Medina. Haggling isn't everyone's thing, but I quite enjoyed the process. Still probably came away having paid substantially more than things were worth, but felt we did OK. Really enjoyed the bike tour we did - it was with a company called Pikala Bikes. 3-4 hours around the city with knowledgeable and fun guides. Yves Saint Laurent gardens was interesting - go early to beat the queues. Essaouria is a good three hours from Marrakech - I'd suggest spending a couple of nights if you were making the trip. Also did day trips to the Atlas Mountains (great scenery, but had a rubbish guide) and Cascades d'Ouzoud (huge waterfall, lovely chilled out place). Also it was my birthday while we were there and we went for a meal at Le Grand Cafe de la Poste, which was quite fancy but definitely affordable by Scottish prices.

Unless you have zero preference then is it not better to rank them? In the ward I live in there’s four parties that I would normally not consider voting for, but I’d prefer three of them to the Tories so I’m going to find a way to rank them with the Tory at the bottom of the pile.

It is indeed. Quite the c**t, even by tory standards.

Presumably his policies include being against the machine.

Probably already been posted, but still… A wonderfully-named SNP candidate in the ward next to where I live. He’d probably fit right in on here.

On the contrary, this is the sort of stuff I want to know. Promises of beaches and wanting to make it a decent trip for the kids means we're pretty much tied to at least some time on that coast (and to be fair hardly feels like a hardship!) and not spending loads of the holiday in a car. But I'm very much open to basing ourselves in places along the coast that I don't yet know about, and also trips that are a wee bit further afield. If there's somewhere within, say 3ish hours of the coast that would be worth the trek to spend 2-3 days in, then I'd be very interested to hear more tips.

We’ve just booked to go to Albania this summer - flights to Corfu and ferry from there. Looking at staying in either Ksamil or Himare, and spending some time in Gjirokaster, although not sure whether it’s a day trip or somewhere worth going for a couple of nights. Taking our kids aged 8 and 6, who probably won’t get overly excited about long car journeys to historical sites, but hoping to sneak a bit of that in. Hoping we can balance a bit of beach time with cultural stuff. Has anyone ever hired a car in Albania? Thinking of doing that. Any tips for that area in general most welcome.

Boris Becker was once directly behind me in a toilet queue. Could have been me. It’s sad though - when I was a kid in the mid 80s I was really into football and tennis. My two biggest sporting heroes: Diego Maradona and Boris Becker. A pair of flawed geniuses.

There’s a shirt I’ll definitely not be buying.

Some great* names from my early years of supporting Queens in there - been a while since a few of them have crossed my mind. I'd sub out Archie McLean for Willie Cunningham. Callum Antell probably also deserves a shot in goals for that team but the competition is stiff. John Burridge was well past it by the time he turned up at Palmerston. You could probably fill about half the squad with goalies alone. Scott McLaughlin would do a job in that midfield as well. *Not great.

What absolutely brilliant commentary on that video (despite barely understanding a word of it).

Pardon the slight tangent here: random African football teams you are sponsoring... Rumphi Utd.pdf

I went for a PCR test at 8am this morning (in Glasgow). It has been a few months since I last had one. Any idea what the typical waiting times are now for results?

I might do that. Finding the time to potentially go out on longer runs is definitely an issue for me. The prospect of being capable of doing what I did five or six minutes faster is hard to get my head around just now! In sports generally I've always had better stamina than speed - cycling, hillwalking, etc - I can keep going for a decent amount of time, just not particularly fast. I also get a kick out of looking at maps etc after I've finished and realising I've run/cycled/walked 'all that way'!

I've always hated running, but was feeling really unfit and unexercised towards the end of last year so on a bit of a whim I started doing one of those couch to 5k programmes. Completed it yesterday and ran 5k with a time of pretty much bang on 30 mins. I've actually really enjoyed it: been out every second day in all sorts of crappy winter weather, but feeling fitter and time for headspace when work has been full on. Wondering what to do next - another programme to move up to 10k maybe.

Slightly off topic, but Ukraine must surely be a solid bet for the Eurovision Song Contest this year. They were one of the favourites already, and they’ll get heaps of sympathy votes.

I’ve just walked down the actual Ruel Street of P&B legend. Disappointed to note that the numbering system jumped straight from 10 to 14, and I didn’t spot Yer Maw.

Me and some pals have/had a yearly football weekend in Germany, at least until Covid struck - 2-3 games over the course of a weekend, usually involving a fair bit of travelling and a lot of beer. Really looking forward to being able to do it again soon. A few teams have stood out: Mannheim and Bochum are two examples. But the best of all was Freiburg. A cracking old stadium which they've now sadly moved from, a great supporters club/bar where we spent a good few hours of the evening chatting and drinking with their fans as Bayern Munich lost on TV, much to their amusement, and a city that was both beautiful and fun as a night out. I couldn't;t claim to be a fervent fan or anything, but they're always the first result I check.

No live action though - cupping his ear, wagging his finger, punching the air etc like he'd just scored a goal would have earned extra points.