Coincidence? I think not.

Last night, one was able to watch either the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest or the first night of the finals of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (this year devoted to lyric singers). Funny how "high" and "low" come together like this.

Of course, a visit to the multimedia section of the Eurovision website is highly recommended. Weirdly, there are 3 Belgian competitors: France's Jonathan Cerrada (and his extremely MOR ballad), one half of the Dutch duo Re-union (and their sub-sub-sub-"Love Is All Around Us") and Belgium's own Xandee (and her hotly-tipped euro-techno).

Saturday, Eurovision's trademark mix of 5-year-old pop rehashes, treacly ballads, ill-advised fashion choices, resurgentprovincialism, the stilted pair of hosts and the odd nutter will live again! I haven't watched it in years and the musical quality is sure to be mind-boggling, but I will most likely miss the event again due to this. I'm devastated.