Figuratively Speaking

Well HQ has been on lockdown for the past three days. I came down with a horrible cold so since Tuesday I've been nestinng on my sofa with my Arsenal blanket and endless cups of tea. An unexpected side effect of being confined to my living room has been that I've watched an unbelievable amount of Eurosport. And on Eurosport this week has been the ISU european championships. So I got the chance to indulge a rare pleasure and watch lots and lots of figure skating. Regular readers will know how I feel about figure skating. But I'l elaborate. I love figure skating on a similar level to how I love Eurovision. I love how OTT and camp it is. I love the artistry involved. I loved the extremely varied spectrum of brilliant ridiculous costumes involved. I love pairs skating for the drama and the incredibly daring throws and jumps involved. I love ice dance beccause its kitsch and fabulous. And I love men's singles because well its men's singles. This week I have particularly enjoyed a Spanish couple dancing to Algo Pequenito (the spanish eurovision song) John and Sinead Kerr from Britain dancing quickstep, lovely Brian Joubert's sparkly waistcoat, Adrian Schultheiss' particularly slinky choreography, Alexander Smirnov's towering performance in his pairs routine, Natalie and Fabian from France's classy classy program and many other things. During rink resurfacing they've shown highlights from last year's event in Talinn the undoubted highlight of which was a showing of Stephane Lambiel's silver medal winning skate which was an exercise in pure poetry. And to top that he appeared at the end of the pairs competition interviewing the winners for Swiss TV. If I could have squealed, I wowuld have. But my bad throat wouldn't allow it. I've taped ice dance free dance this evening. I'm going to watch or tape men's free program tomorrow then its the gala on sunday. Keep your eyes peeled for more rambling and gushing. Also coming up football chat.