Welcome one – Welcome all to the start of the OnEurope 2005 Eurovision Blog coverage!
Now it’s not escaped your attention that we have 2 weeks till the team, and by that I mean me, will be flying off to Kiev to cover the goddam contest with all of its associated mysteries.
I have decided to let you in on your webmaster’s world and preparations for this thing by lettin you see what I have to go through and what it’s like getting oneself ready for this.
First of all “HELLO” 😉 – I’m Phil, I’ll be your webmaster and guide for the next 4 weeks. The exits are via Alt + F4 and by the cross at the top right!! –
But seriously folks , it is only apt that the first entry back gives a bit of background etc. As many of you know, I’ve been doing OnEurope for about the last five years, it’s been, and still is great fun to do. However, this year things have gotten a bit manic in my life and the site has taken a noticable turn for the worse (In my opinion.) – During late 2004, I started suffering from a severe bout of depression which nearly led to my job and the site, being tossed up into the air, and thrown about like a Ukranian rag-doll. However, thanks to the support that the site and you have given to me, I got through it and it has been , so far, a record few months. Site hits are UP overall, bandwidth is UP, and all is *on* the up. Thank the lord!
However getting accreditation to this annual musak fest has been – at best tetchy – and at worst downright suicidal. Let me guide you, yes YOU my loyal reader, through the minefield that is, the Eurovision Accreditation.
Several decades ago, The press of Europe used to turn up and have a press card, an ikkle piece of paper that let them cover world events, Mme Thatcher did away with them in the UK, and so now, anyone with an organ (MATRON!) can call themselves press. As such, you get me! – Usually us “press” types deal with a loverly lady at the BBC – get us passes – and go boldly forward to a foreign country and , basically, let you tell us we are blind and deaf for 12 days a year. However, in Ukraine-land all is not well. First of all they write the site, so we can input our details and convince people that we really *are* entitled to the statutory 1000 yards of food and rivers of drink at the free parties. However, what NTU forgot to do, was to actually secure the site. This meant that anyone could, if they wished, grant anyone, any level of accreditation!!
“Ho Ho” – I hear you cry as you look into your bottles of Ukrainian Vodka product, ” they must have sorted that out straight away”. The answer, was “niet”. For 3 whole days the entire press corps of Europe, and especially WDR in Germany and their Kiev Bureau, were granting themselves whatever they pleased. Your loyal webmaster got himself a P1 – The highest of the 3 types of press *ahem* accreditation on offer , but e-mailed people just in case it was a LIE.
And a lie it was, for 24 hrs later the lovely BBC bird mailed back saying “erm no” – and asked me to re-do it. In the mean time- mails were hurridly cracked off to Svante and the Accreditation people, who also saw I was genuine, and promptly cancelled everything. “ok” – thinks I – ” Normal service has been resum-ed”. However, loyal fan, as you know, nothing has been normal in the world of NTU and the Eurovision, for many days later – my Accreditation was restored and P1 was back at his rightful place! HOORAH! – They must have re-instated them – thinks I. Oh how wrong can you be…
Four of your earth weeks passed swiftly by with me being a happy P1 … Until one Tuesday morning. I gets a mail saying, basically, that you can’t have your P1 and you need to go through the BBC. “What the HELL?” thinks I and dashes yet more e-mails off to people. Svante, gives his usual “I’m Swedish, it’s nothing to do with me, even though I run the contest” e-mail – The loverly Finnish man at accreditations promises to get on the phone to the nice lady at the BBC – and within hours my accreditation has been restored. Albeit at P2 level.
You see , P1’s are a rare bread – they get to sit in the Press tent and wander serenely around and P2’s are supposed to do the legwork. Seriously the difference is that P1 can you a computer and a P2 cant. Which is not that big a deal as this P2 has a laptop with Wireless internet. So, if pushed, can race out of a rehearsal to dash off some work, then leg it back into the hall and see some more rehearsals , meanwhile plugging his trusted new Laptop into the first avaliable Plug!!
So there you have it – the saga of the accreditation – still – P2 is better than nothing – am still planning and hoping that the so-called – 600 wireless internet connections – have a big enough radius to get into the hall – which is 100 meters away apparently – so I can do live reportage . But we shall see. I am planning to sneak my Laptop in to the compound on my “navigation” day two weeks on Wednesday to do a test report – so all being well we should be OK.