Back in the USSR.

Yes, it's that time again. It's ESC time. It's Eurovision time. It's time to bring out the white board and make bets on who can have the most cringe-inducing performance. I'll be honest, I am not prepared for the ESC this year at all. Yesterday was the second semi-final and the only ESC thing I've managed to do was actually check the ESC app this morning to see who was in the final on Saturday. Yep, I have no clue what 99% of the contestants look or sound like. This is so unlike me! But to be true to the ESC spirit I put the Best of ABBA on for yesterday's commute and listened to some France Gall. I saw three songs of the first semi-final, including the Finn. Now, I quite liked the Finnish girls last year and the Finnish guy this year seems ok, if only he could try and hold the notes when they need to be held. Then again, his going off key once or twice is nothing compared to some monstrosities we have seen in the past years. Oh and the Frenchie was given as the winner by some bookmakers at one point. Like that could ever happen! We have no "allies" and even those who should be "allies" never vote for France because it's not like France will not be n the final... when you don't have geopolitical allies, use money! (as a side note, those two first photos are of an actual map that's in the cafeteria... perhaps one day someone will get rid of it but up until then, the USSR and Czechoslovakia is still well alive)

La Bonne Mère et le parapluie.

Please prepare for an onslaught of posts as I catch up with some photos... I still to post photos of some cherry blossoms when everyone knows by now that we're almost done with picking all the cherries! And so here is some Marseille and the boat from the day of the regatta! ( +4 - flags and umbrellas )

Now we have the fruit.

Blossoms from April 2nd. As I said, some catching up to do. ( +3 - more whiteness )