[LMBTO] Eurovision 2018 - It Is Almost Here!

2018 will be different for me as far as the Eurovision fortnight is concerned - for a start, I will actually be in Lisbon, able to go to all the shows, Jury and Televised.  I will be there from Sunday 6th in fact and I will not be in a position to update my blog continually as I would have done in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 when I have been at home, watching all rehearsals and shows online.  This year is different...

I didn't ask for Press Accreditation (although I did miss out on Fan) and my intention is to experience being in the Host City as a fan, going to the EuroVillage, the EuroCafe (day and night - yes I have one of those passes) and being a tourist as well, as my partner Ellen is coming with me to Lisbon.  I will hopefully have tickets ready for all SIX shows, although I might have to rearrange the Jury SF ones if she doesn't come with me (disabled tickets and I count as her 'accompanying carer').  Not being accredited means that being at the Blue Carpet event would only involve standing near the entrance to the event, so maybe watching it in my hotel room on Portuguese tv might be the way to go for that...

Now I could try and blog about the rehearsals every day this week as I have done in the past but the only footage that is coming out of the Arena is from eurovision.tv and you can all look at that yourselves and rate it.  What I will do this year, just before I leave for Lisbon next Sunday, is to summarise my prefered qualifiers from each SF and my dream Final placings.  The prediction game is all very well and that is a path that others take, trying to guess the ten that will qualify from each half of the draw and then predict who is going to win - it is what I have done in the past.  What I have decided to do this year is show off my favourites in a nice table format.  Those of you who have followed my blog this year will have read what I think of each of the 43 entries as they have been released - if you want to be reminded, just scan though my blog, it is obvious which is which!  When I return from Lisbon on May 14th, I will be able to make a comparison of reality against my preferences and see how it all panned out - I am certain that there will be surprises for everyone concerned.  As we all know, at this stage of the game, hardly anybody predicted Conchita, Jamala or this guy taking the prize home:

So there's a pithy summation of what I'll be blogging about before I fly out to Lisbon - you ready for my 2018 view of how I'd love things to pan out?

Those of you who read my London Eurovision Party piece will have a pretty shrewd idea who that is...