Let the EuropeCrazy blog posts backlog begin!

Good news! Finally getting round to posting all my outstanding backlog of blog posts.

In the coming weeks you can look forward to some posts about Melodifestivalen, Eurovision, and two fabulous holidays.

Let's get the backlog started with a look back at this year's Melodifestivalen.

Break time....

In case you're wondering why there have been no posts lately, I'm on a bit of a break from blogland! There is a lot going on at the moment and I've just been too busy lately. All being well, the blog should return on or around 25th June, along with some of those overdue blog posts!

EuropeCrazy is 10 years old today!

On Sunday 11th March 2007, I started a little blog where I would write about European music and travel, and also some other (non-European related) interests.  I never thought that anyone would ever read it, as it was just a little hobby, and I'd never have guessed that I would still be blogging 10 years later,  The best thing is that I have got to know some really lovely people thanks to this blog.  And even though I've never met any of you, I consider you to be my friends!  I know it sounds like a cliche but blogging really changed my life.  As a "quiet" person who has struggled throughout my life with shyness, social anxiety, a lack of confidence and not having the same interests as everyone else, blogging opened a door to a new world for me and I finally found a place I could feel at home, where many others shared my interests. This 'virtual world' quickly became a happier place than the 'real' one and provided an escape from the stresses of day to day life.

In my early, hectic blogging years between 2007 and 2009, my life was very different and I had more time, energy and opportunities to blog than I have now.  In the first year of EuropeCrazy, I blogged relentlessly, writing as many posts in one month as I now do over a year. The posts were short and snappy, enthusiastic and excitable.  It was a golden age of pop blogs which introduced me to a lot of great music from across Europe.  It was the start of an incredible journey of musical discovery, and I had a particular interest in Swedish music.

By accident, on 14th July 2007, I came across a Swedish singer/songwiter/all-round musical genius called Salem Al Fakir,  By the end of 2007, one blog became two.  My enthusiasm for Salem spiralled into a spin-off fan blog called Planet Salem, (http://planetsalem.blogspot.com) and I just didn't expect what would happen next. The blog quickly gathered a large readership of devoted Salem fans and almost every minute of my spare time was spent on almost daily updates whilst keeping EuropeCrazy going at the same time. Eventually I was to achieve my dream of going to see Salem in concert in Gothenburg on 18th April 2009, but the biggest surprise of all was yet to come - I was invited to meet Salem before his concert. Looking back, I don't know where I got the courage or confidence from!  And then the following year, I returned to Gothenburg to see him play live again on 26th March 2010.  A lot had changed by then - Salem was now a household name in Sweden thanks to his participation in Melodifestivalen, but when I got the opportunity to meet him again that evening, it was very clear that he remained such a likeable, humble and down-to-earth person in spite of his growing fame.  Salem's decision to retreat from the spotlight to focus on songwriting and production for other artists was initially disappointing but, with hindsight, not so surprising.  And although it's been a generally dormant blog in recent years, Planet Salem is still going and I continue to report any news about the great man's musical adventures.

Back to EuropeCrazy now: although I enjoyed writing about all the new music I discovered, I also wanted to share my love for the music which I've loved throughout my life, and that was the inspiration for Retro Saturday, a feature which ran on the blog during its first few years.

Over the past couple of years, two factors have impacted on the reduction in music coverage on this blog: the 'globalisation' of music and the impact that streaming has made on the charts.  In 2007, I could look at any iTunes chart across Europe and of course it would include the big international hits, but there would also be enough home-grown music to provide a genuine alternative to the UK chart. Nowadays it's all about Spotify streams etc, but I'm pretty much old-school so I still like to check the iTunes charts....only to be greeted with the same songs in every chart, in every country, for weeks and months on end.  There is also a complete lack of variety in what is passing for mainstream 'pop' music these days - it's either faceless EDM or acoustic bores. And most importantly, where have all the good tunes gone?

I used to listen to a lot of Swedish commercial radio, but I rarely listen these days as it's often indistinguishable from my local radio station, due to that 'globalisation'. I have no doubt that there is still some good music out there, but you have to put a lot more effort into looking for it, and over the last couple of years I have just given up and turned my back on current music in favour of older music from my own vast collection.

There is one annual musical event which remains at the heart of this blog.  Yes, what else but the Eurovision Song Contest, and the national finals season leading up to it. However I decided from the beginning that this blog would not be an ESC news blog as there are so many others out there doing this job very well. There are so many excellent ESC-related blogs providing in-depth coverage and analysis, and also some great podcasts which I always make sure to download during 'the season'. To each and every one of you bloggers out there who work so hard to keep our ESC obsession going, a huge thank you - Eurovision wouldn't be the same without you. Due to my personal circumstances I have always been a 'stay at home' fan who has never been to a contest, so all of these blogs and Twitter accounts really bring the experience alive. Especially as here in the UK, the general mainstream mindset about ESC has never changed, and people are generally frightened to discuss it for fear of ridicule, so it's nice to be part of a world where the contest continues to be the event of the year!  I will continue to write my reviews of ESC and national finals season on the blog, but as you know by now, these posts will be retrospective due to time constraints and other commitments.

One of the reviews which I will be posting in the coming weeks will be about Melodifestivalen, which was once my favourite annual selection.  I can't say this any more though.  In the rush towards a more 'modern' line-up of songs, I'm sad to say that Christer/SVT have 'thrown the baby out with the bathwater' and for me, the quality of songs has deteriorated. I was never really a schlager fan as such, so I don't miss that, but what I do miss is just a good, catchy, memorable song which will stand up to repeated play long after the contest is over. Tonight I will watch the 2017 Melodifestivalen final: as usual it will be a visual feast, the production will be slick, the staging will be impressive, and the artists will sing their hearts out, but for some reason this year, I can't get excited about the final line-up of songs. Most of them just leave me cold. (And no, before you ask, it's nothing to do with Loreen's shock elimination, because I wasn't excited about her song either  #controversialopinion)

I do not have Facebook, but in terms of Twitter, I have noticed one unwelcome change over the past couple of years with respect to Eurovision fandom.  As ESC becomes more and more 'mainstream', there appears to be a new generation of hysterical ESC fan emerging on social media, who does not appear to have any respect for the contest's history, nor for anyone who does not share their views. This is not from personal experience, as I want to stress that my own experiences of the fandom have been 100% positive and there are so many wonderful people whom I follow on Twitter.  However I have read some very nasty and hurtful comments on forums and Twitter, directed towards some fans who have dared to express an opinion which differs from their own.  These so-called 'fans' should remember that the Eurovision Song Contest is the most inclusive entertainment event which unites people all over Europe and the world, regardless of your age, class, race, gender or orientation.  There is enough hatred in the world right now without it spreading to our happy Eurovision world. A little bit more respect wouldn't go amiss.

It should be acknowledged that we all have different views about the quality of the songs and the direction the contest is going in.  As an 'older' fan of the contest I am beginning to feel a bit marginalised.  Eurovision fandom seems to be a young person's game now, and the contest and national selections have radically changed over the past 10 years of this blog, for better or worse.  Of course Eurovision had to modernise, but something suffered along the way.  Yes, it is now reflecting modern music more than ever, but a little more variety and musical diversity would be welcome.  So you won't be too surprised to learn that my two favourite entries this year come from Italy and Portugal: both in native language, with national characteristics and little concession to what's 'current' and crucially, they immediately made that 'connection' with me, which can't be said for the blander, more generic/ 'current' entries lack.

On to something different now.  When I started the blog, the other thing I wanted to write about was travel. and in the past 10 years I have been fortunate enough enjoy some fabulous holidays in a number of different destinations across Europe, and have written on here about all of them: Stockholm, Berlin, Riga, Nice (twice), Dublin (three times), Gothenburg (twice), Dusseldorf, Icmeler (twice), Bratislava, Bodrum, Pisa, Palma, Copenhagen, Trogir, Brussels, Puerto Pollensa, London, Madrid, Llandudno and Carcassonne, some during-holiday day trips to Cologne, Vienna, Kos and Mostar. as well as a fabulous Med cruise in 2013 which took in Messina, Athens, Kusadasi and Chania.  Of course I don't have a social life - any money I have left after paying all the bills goes into the holiday fund!!  My philosophy now is do it while you still can, because you don't know what's in the future.

Whilst there have been extreme highs and happy times over the past 10 years, the past 3 years have brought a breakdown, depression, an eating disorder and continuing struggles with my weight - all chronicled over at my 3rd blog, EuropeCrazy's Random Ramblings (http://europecrazysrandomramblings.blogspot.com) - it's not all doom and gloom over there though, it just feels like it :))

10 years on from 11th March 2007, the world is a very different and increasingly horrible place in so many ways.  Closer to home, my partner and I (faithful travelling companion to regular readers) also continue to struggle with the impact and pain of the loss of our loved ones over recent years. However, there is another side of grief and loss, as it makes you more aware of your own mortality, and that you must make the most of every day you have left.  Our more carefree selves of 2007 may be a million miles away, but life goes on and we are determined to live it to the full.

Before this post gets too depressing, I need to remind myself that today is a celebration of my 10 years in blogland! In my post from this time last year, I said that once the blog hit 10 years I would make a decision about whether or not to continue. Although blogging is no longer as popular as it was in 2007, sometimes you can't just say what you want in 140 characters, and writing some of my backlog of posts over the past week reminded me of how much I do enjoy blogging when I have the time and opportunity to do this. And in writing this post, so many happy memories have been triggered.  So I've made a decision - it's time to make some new memories. EuropeCrazy will continue!

Finally, as I said in my introduction, when I started the blog I never thought that anyone would read it.  I would have been excited if even one person had read it, so I'm delighted and overwhelmed that so many of you have visited over the past 10 years.  I want to say a massive thanks to all of you, wherever you are in the world, whether you're an accidental one-off visitor or a regular reader.  Your support means the world to me, and I appreciate it so much.

Here's to the next 10 years!

Love
Laura xxx

Sorry for the delay...

I had planned to post my year-end chart and FiK55 review this week, however I'm not feeling too well at the moment and will also be back at work between tomorrow and Friday, so won't really have much time to blog between now and the New Year weekend. Hoping to catch up with my overdue posts then!

An intermission

Regular readers may have noticed that there hasn't been too much activity on this blog over the past few months, and some important posts remain unpublished.  I just wanted to explain that there are various reasons for this, including lack of time/exhaustion and basically my own health hasn't been so great. But most importantly it's also been a very upsetting summer due to difficult personal circumstances.  After a very upsetting few months, we lost a close family member during the past couple of weeks.  He was taken from us far, far too young after a short period of serious illness.  I won't go into any more detail but suffice to say that it has been a very upsetting time for faithful travelling companion and myself.

Over the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to catch up and publish some of those outstanding posts: I'm now off work for my annual summer-fortnight so should hopefully find some time to post my Eurovision reviews (only 4 months late, which seems to have become the norm over the past couple of years...!).  Talking of Eurovision, there has been some big news over the past few days that Kyiv will be the ESC 2017 host city, after weeks of on-off rumour, speculation and false alarms.  That news, and the opening of song-submission season, means that off-season is, well. off! 

But back to our own situation: although there won't be a "summer holiday" to blog about this year, we are having a last-minute short break coming soon, in yet another new destination ('new places' seems to have been the 2016 theme!) and of course the diaries will be published on here.  Hopefully soon :)

A temporary intermission...

Just popped in to say that my blogs will be out of action for a little while as I'm switching over my internet service (along with TV and phone) to a new provider very soon.  Hopefully everything will go smoothly and it won't be too long until I'm back here with the conclusion of the Llandudno diaries and some of my other long-overdue posts.

9 years and counting

This blog has been going for 9 years now.  And as I say every year, where's the time gone?

In recent months I was very close to walking away from blogging, purely due to the frustration that I didn't have the time or energy to devote to it any more.  But I really want to continue and get to that 10-year anniversary so I'm going to keep things going for another year and see how it goes.

Things have been very busy at home since the start of the year as I've been revamping my surroundings, painting, decorating, making big changes - all very time-consuming.  As usual I have a huge backlog of unpublished posts but please bear with me, they will be posted on here eventually! So you can expect my thoughts on 2016's Eurovision national finals season, and a trip report from a new (and surprising) destination.

Doing this blog has brought me many happy times and good friends.  Once again, I just want to thank all of you for reading and supporting this blog over the past 9 years. Onwards to the 10th year :))

Time out....

Hi folks, just popped in to say that this blog will be back probably around mid-February, with a whole lot of retrospective posts dating all the way back to the end of 2015.  At the moment I'm caught up in some long-overdue painting, decorating and home improvement which is taking up a lot of my time (when I'm not at work, which is also very busy) so I won't have time for blogging for a while.

Back soon (hopefully!)

Digital detox time again....

So after my little burst of blogging over the past few days I'm now going to take a break from here and from Twitter.  This month I'm going to paint/decorate my house but it won't be all work and no play as I'm also going to catch up with some of my TV/DVD backlog and get back into reading again.  

I'll be back on here and on Twitter at the beginning of February, just in time for another hectic Eurovision national finals season!  See you then. 

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know I'm early but as I won't be around blogland for a couple of days I just thought I'd take the opportunity to thank all of you for reading my blogs this year.  It goes without saying that 2015 has been a very tough year, both personally and for the wider world, so you'll understand why I want to say "good riddance" to the year which is ending.

I'm no fan of "new year" as such but on the positive side it gives us yet another blank page - or in this coming year, 366 blank pages - to write on.  So may your pages be filled with happy events and good times in the year ahead.  (And at least we've got Eurovision season to look forward to).

And though it's been said, many times, many ways....."hope it's better than the last one!!"

Best wishes to you all - and particularly to those very special friends who have stuck by this blog for the past 8 years.  You know who you are!

Finally, just to say that the top 20 of my 2015-50 chart will be published on 1st January, so check back after that date to find out who's topped my chart of the year.

All the best for 2016!

Love
Laura  xx

Let the blog posts backlog begin!

You'll probably have noticed that I haven't been very active on this blog these past few months.  But I have been building up a very large backlog of posts and haven't really had the time or energy to finish them until now.

So I am finally going to (adopts deep booming movie-trailer voice) RELEASE THE BACKLOG!!!! Over the next few days I'll be posting as many of these as I can, starting with some Eurovision national final flashbacks.

What do you mean, this blog is 8 years old tomorrow ????

Where have all those years gone?  On the one hand, it feels like only yesterday when I was taking those early steps into blogland; on the other hand, it's like a lifetime ago.

The world is a different place now, from when I started this blog in March 2007, and one of the things which particularly saddens me is the increasing 'globalisation' of music and popular culture in our continent over the past few years.  Europe has such a rich and diverse mix of music and artists who have to take a backseat to the overrated global successes.  I just have to work a lot harder now to find any music I like, outside Eurovision/national finals season!  Luckily that's not so difficult, thanks to other bloggers and/or Twitter.

I won't go into personal stuff here (Random Ramblings is for that) but suffice to say that the last couple of years have been particularly difficult; this has impacted on the amount of time I can devote to my blogging hobby.  Yet blogging is something I can't imagine not doing, even if I just don't always have the time and energy any more.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: blogging changed and enriched my life in so many ways.  That's a good enough reason to keep going into EuropeCrazy's 9th year!

However, I need to take a couple of weeks away to catch up with my backlog of blog posts which I still haven't had the time to finish!!  Check back here nearer the end of this month for EuropeCrazy's backlog bonanza :)

Bye for now....

...I'm now taking some time out of blogging and the internet to catch up with some "life stuff", spring cleaning and starting my fitness plan, before Eurovision National Finals season takes over my life!  This blog will be back at the end of January.  In the meantime, take care and I'll see you soon :))

Break time!

Right then, all blog posts have been posted and now I'm taking my traditional summer break time away from the internet, to take a rest, catch up with some neglected jobs at home and to prepare for our forthcoming holiday to Croatia. 

Enjoy the rest of the summer everyone and have fun!

Blog birthday: 7 Up!

A quick glance at the calendar reveals that today marks my 7th anniversary in blogland.  Where have all those years gone?  Unfortunately I can only rewind to my last blog-birthday and tell you that things are pretty much the same - I don't really have the time anymore to update this (or my other blogs) as regularly as I'd like to: I don't have the time or energy - the last few months have been particularly difficult and I only feel as if I'm beginning to see the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. 

The good news though, is that I have no intention of giving up blogging just yet.  Welcome to the 8th year of EuropeCrazy! 

Normal service resuming soon...!

My internet broke down last weekend and I've had no internet connection between then and now, which explains why there's been no posts this week.

Over the next couple of days I'll post my backlog of Swedish Idol reviews and some other stuff as well.

Time out!

You may remember that last August I did a "digital detox" and gave up the internet for a month.  It was very successful so I'm going to do the same thing between now and the end of August.  No blogging, no Twitter, and only limiting my internet use to:

• holiday research and booking
• weather checks
• watching TV (e.g. Allsång)

I'll be back on Sunday 1st September :))

Back home!

Hello again!  I'm back on dry land (although I've still got the "sea legs" despite being back for 24 hours!) Eight days ago, we set off on our first ever cruise around the Eastern Med on Royal Caribbean International's Navigator of the Seas (pictured above) visiting Sicily, Greece, Turkey and Crete along the way.  It was a fantastic holiday which exceeded all my expectations, and everything - the ship, the ports, the weather - was just perfect.  However it was also an exhausting itinerary on an enormous ship and I'm still feeling very tired!

I have a few posts to write up (including those long-overdue Eurovision reviews) before I even get round to the cruise diaries so you'll have to wait a little while longer as I have a couple of busy weeks ahead.  So I'm going to take yet another blog break to gather my thoughts and write those posts and will return on 15th June    with a little blogging frenzy!  See you then.

Tell the Med I'm here....to sail it :)

If you watched Melodifestivalen this year you will understand that post title pun.  If not, oh well, never mind :))

But in the words of Ulrik, I'm on my way, I'm on my way....well, one week from today we will be on our way to cruise round the Eastern Med.  I always get massively excited about our holidays, but I don't think I've been as excited about a particular holiday since my Swedish trips of 2009 and 2010.  Yes we are talking major excitement here! 

There has been an incredible amount of obsessive planning and list-making on the lead-up to our first ever cruise (that's just me - you can tell I do admin for a living!) but hopefully that will help us to get the most out of the holiday.  But I enjoy all that planning stuff, so it's not been all work and no play.  It will be nice to finally get away for some sunshine, after the coldest and wettest 'spring' in many years. Even though it's May, we still need the central heating on!  It's also been a very stressful few months so the relaxation will be very welcome  This holiday is completely taking us out of our comfort zone but it should be an amazing new experience.  Coming soon to EuropeCrazy: The Cruise Diaries!

It's nice to be at home for Eurovision week. As usual I've been enjoying the rehearsal footage and all the bloggers blogging and the tweeters tweeting about the Malmö madness :)  Looking forward to watching both semi-finals as well as the final.  I'll be reviewing all of them as usual, but as I'll be too busy with holiday preparations and other stuff this week, the reviews will be posted retrospectively,  week commencing 27.05.2013, when this blog will be back in action.  See you soon, me hearties :))

EuropeCrazy is 6 years old tomorrow!

Can't believe I've been blogging for 6 years!  Tomorrow is the official 6th birthday however I thought I'd get the celebrations out of the way today.  

As I said in my birthday round-up exactly a year ago, it's getting harder to keep this blog as updated and relevant as it used to be, due to the lack of time and opportunities to do so.  Nevertheless I'm in this for the long haul, so I officially declare year 7 open :)

In the meantime though I'm taking another little break from this blog to go and do some other stuff.  I'll be back on here at Easter weekend:)))