uk12points

MERSEYSIDE (N) And last but not least, we head to Merseyside and welcome Netherlands @heywoodu and Azerbaijan @il_qar. Both will be staying in Liverpool so enjoy this wonderful city full of culture and some of the friendliest people. Netherlands/Azerbaijan - Liverpool

LONDON (SE) London, our capital and largest city, will be home to Brazil @titicow @vinipereira and @Federer91. But we will be sending our delegations to parts of London you may not have sene before... Brazil - Camden Town Bulgaria - Clapham

THE HIGHLANDS (SCO) The Highlands is not technically a county, but it is a region of Scotland that is truely stunning. It will be the base for Portugal @kungshamra71 and Croatia @dcro. Portugal we expect a photo from the top, you don't have long to climb it either, so you might want to cheat and take the cable car. Portugal - Ben Nevis (highest point in Britain) Croatia - Dunoon (home of the Highland Games)

DYFED (WAL) Dyfed is a county in South West, that mixes coastal, urban and rural lifestyles into one and will be the base for Malta @Glen and Romania @africaboy Malta - Rural Carmarthen Romania - St Davids (home of the Patron Saint of Wales)

We are just 4 hours away from the opening ceremony!!! I've really enjoyed putting it together so I hope everyone enjoys it too!! The last arrivals we be we be coming up soon! Just in time for the opening ceremony!

You can explore the dramatic coastline and surrounding villages! Not everything in Britain is based in cities! Many of the spectacular sites are spread around

Well if you are not much of a sightseeer then York is your kind of place - can be easily done in a few hours!!

Sussex (SE) Sussex is a county in South East England, also known as Sussex-by-the-sea, and is technically divided into 2 (East and West Sussex - with the City of Brighton and Hove diving the two) and will be home to Serbia @DaniSRB@dareza and @rybak. As this is my home county you'll be treated to two of my favourite spots - so enjoy! With West Wittering do beware - on a sunny day most of the surrounding villages flock to the beach and it can be infested with people - but you shoudl be alright at this time of year. Serbia, your choice of Alfriston is a timy village in East Sussex, but it is beautiful! It is surrounded by rolling hills and the beach is just a few minutes walk down the road - it is one of the most picturesque villages I have ever been to! There is currently a big campaign in the village to stop the council putting in traffic lights as they will ruin the image of the village! Poland - West Witterings Serbia - Alfriston

Yorkshire (N) Yorkshire is one of the largest counties on the country, and is technically divided into 4 (North, West, South and East Riding) and will be home to New Zealand @Wanderer and Iran @MHSN New Zealand - Whitby Iran - York

COUNTY ANTRIM (NIR) County Antrim is located in the North-East of the island of Ireland and will be home to Algeria @bestmen and Germany @catgamer @OlympicsFan Algeria - Giants Causeway Germany - Belfast

Another reminder: Everyone has now been asked for a voting message so it would be great if as many people as possible could send one! Sadly, any country that does not send a message will have no message in their votes - this is unfortunately due to time constraints meaning I am unable to write messages for other users!

If everyone uses a little bit of imagination then we can pretend that when the delegations arrive they will have some time to explore their destination before heading to the final - so it is a bit less of a whistlestop tour for some of the countries arriving in the next 24 hours!

WEST MIDLANDS (MID) The West Midlands is a county that covers the West Midlands of the Uk (surprise!), the region is very urban, wit a series of major towns and cities like Birmingham, Coventry and Walsall making up the urban agglomeration. Birmingham city will be home to Finland @Finnator123 and Canada @intoronto Finland/Canada - Birmingham Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK, with plenty of room to fit 2 extra residents for a few days! Birmingham is a hub for cultural institutions with a few to highlight being the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Birmingham Library (shown below) and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. As well as a strong number of cultural institutions, Birmingham has a strong grassroots cultural scene, with bands like Black Sabbath, Duran Duran and ELO coming from Birmingham. Who is the brummie you may ask? Well Brummie is the nickname for the iconic West Midlands accent - however (whilst I like the Brummie accent) opinion polls suggest it is the least favoured of all British accents by UK citizens. You might have heard the accent in people like Julie Walters, Frank Skinner or Ozzy Osbourne! But Canada and Finland will certainly get a flavour for it during their stay!

LANARKSHIRE (SCO) Lanarkshire is a county that covers part of central Scotland, major cities within the county include Glasgow, where both Morocco @#MA and Greece @Janakis will be staying. Morocco/Greece - Glasgow They say People Make Glasgow, and that is probably pretty true! The city itself grew around the River Clyde, with the former ports now regenerated with sports and media venues. In the industrial revolution Glasgow was the world leader in chemicals and shipbuilding and claim to be the "British Empires second city". Now Glasgow is famous for hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and will host the 2018 European Sports Championships (the new rival to the European Games).

We would never do that! We would have sent you to the British Antarctic Territory if we truely wanted Ireland's chances to be sabotaged!

COMHAIRLE NAN EILEAN SIAR (SCO) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is a council/county area that covers the Western Isles of Scotland, including the Outer Hebrides, it is a part of Scotland I definitely want to visit, but have never had a chance so I am very jealous of the delegations who get to stay here. For the next week this county will be home to Tunisia @amen09@tuniscof and Ireland @OlympicIRL, the founders and next host of the contest, maybe they can have a meeting about the future of the contest on the islands! Tunisia - Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides) The Tunisian delegation will make the Isle of Lewis their new home for the coming days. The Isles of Lewis is located at the Northern tip of the Outer Hebrides and therefore, as the picture suggests, the Northern Lights can be seen at certain times of the year from the Island. Also shown in the picture are the Callanish Stones, a ritual site during the Bronze Age, one tradition goes that the stones are petrified giants who refused to convert to Christianity, whilst the history might be disputed they are definitely a maginficant site. And this is where the Tunisian delegation will be staying, seriously, these ancient houses have been rennovated and are now a holiday accomodation site on the shores of the Atlantic (Garenin blackhouse village), not advised to go paddling in these waters! Ireland - St Kilda The beautiful, now uninhabited, Island of St Kilda will be home to Ireland for the coming days. The Island has a sad past, as the last surviving residents were evacuated from the island during WW2 after centuries of human inhabitation. The island itself is now a world heristage site and has a history of Vikings, Druids, raids and resistence. However life on the island is incredibly challenging, as brutal storms can strike the island. St Kilda may not have many humans left, but that has been more than replaced by wildlife! Thousands of seabirds flock to the island as a breeding ground, but because of the salt spray and strong winds, no trees grow on the island. We hope a storm doesn't trap the most sucsessful TISC nation of all time on the island for the grand final, or was that the scheming plan of the hosts all along...

A little reminder to @justony @MHSN @Ruslan @Federer91 @Ionoutz24 that your templates are ready, but I am waiting for a voting message before I can send them. Of course if you don't send a message I will still send the template, but Google Translate and I will have to create a message for you instead - which may not even be legible! Most people have now been asked for, or sent, a message. If you haven't been asked (mainly multi-user member nations) you can jump the gun if you want and send one soon! Hope you are looking forward to the grand final on Saturday and opening ceremony on Friday night, that will start at 18:00 British Time (GMT+1).

Oh, if he is an alpine skier then skiing on one leg is no problem, lots of the athletes do that!

I'm not sure about the one leg skiing question. Standing normally means upper body impairment. I know in Alpine Skiing one legged athletes compete in standing as LW9 and it appears that applies to Nordic skiing too (same classification): Sport Classes LW 2-9: Standing Skiers Skiers with leg impairments: Sport Class LW 2: The skiers have an impairment affecting one leg, for example an amputation above the knee. They will use a prosthesis and ski with two skis. Sport Class LW 3: This sport class includes skiers with an impairment in both legs, such as muscle weakness in both legs. Sport Class LW 4: Skiers in this sport class include those with impairments in the lower parts of one leg, but with less impact on skiing compared to LW 2. Typical examples are amputations above the ankle or loss of muscle control in one leg. Depending on where the leg is lost he will be one of these three. I'm pretty sure he would get a low ranking factor, maybe 50%, which means his time would be divided by 2, therefore if he was a decent skier he could do quiet well thanks to the factoring.

Brazil have 2 athletes with the entry standard, but sadly neither were quite good enough to secure a second quota. Technically it is up to the Brazilian federation to pick between Thomaz Moraes or Fernando Rocha, the age difference though is significant Moraes born 2001 or Rocha born 1978, so I would pick Moraes but the workings of internal selections can be complex to say the least. I would expect they might apply for a bipartite invitation for a second quota as there are lots of unused female quota that need allocating. On 2022, he is young and if he keeps improving he could be up there, but most of the sitting field is pretty young, the Ukrainians are only in there 20s and there is a promising Japanese guy who was born in 2000. Plus, I am certain that China will throw lots of resources at Para Nordic Skiing, they send lots of athletes to competitions and I imagine they will be a force to be reckoned with on home snow! But there is definitely potential!

Wheelchair Curling Competition Details City PyeongChang Dates March 10th - March 17th, 2018 Venue Gangneung Curling Centre Website Official Website There will be 1 event contested in Wheelchair Curling at the 2018 Winter Paralympic Games, a mixed-gender 12 team tournament. Each team of 5 athletes must include at least 1 man and 1 woman. All competing athletes have impairments affecting the lower parts of their bodies, thus requiring them to play seated. The Neutral Paralympic Athletes comprised of Russian athletes enters the games world ranked number 1 after topping the Qualification Rankings with gold at the 2015 and 2016 World Championships. However Norway enters the games as the current world champions after winning the event in 2017. Others teams to watch out for include world ranked number 2 China and defending Paralympic champions Canada, who have won the event at every Games since 2006. Teams qualified for PyeongChang 2018: Canada China Finland Germany Great Britain Neutral Paralympic Athletes Norway Slovakia South Korea Sweden Switzerland United States

CORNWALL (SW) Cornwall is located on the South Western most tip of the UK, with the landmark of Lands End, which marks the most westerly part of the UK. For the next week this county will be home to Slovakia @hckosice and Slovenia @justony, it was a pairing that was too good to miss, hopefully it doesn't confuse the Cornish people as much as it seems to confuse the UK media! Slovakia - Scilly Isles There is a long journey in store for the Slovakian delegation, but it is totally worth it! The Scilly Isles, located 45km off the coast of Cornwall, have been compared with Caribbean Islands for their white sand and blue sea beaches. The archipeligo contains 150 islands, of which 5 are inhabited, with the main island being St Mary's island. The biodiversity of the Scilly Isles is unique from the UK mainland, due to the complex climate and more than half of the Islands have been decalred Sites of Special Scientific Interest. But the Isles are not just a tranquil paradise, the Western Rocks are known as the graveyard, as many ships have been destroyed by the rocks, British, German and American ships have all come a cropper against the rocks of Scilly. In fact there have been more shipwrecks around the shores of Scilly than anywhere else in the world! The World Pilot Gig Championships are held in the Scilly Isles every year and they will take place this weekend, just in time for the Slovakian delegation to take a look. These small boats would guide bigger ships through the treacherous waters years ago, and the tradition has continues in the form of a competition. We are going to enter the delegation as a beginner Slovakian team into the Championships for the first ever time and see how they get on, as long as they stay upright that will be a success! Here's a look at gigging: Slovenia - St Ives The traditional fishing town of St Ives will be home to the Slovenian delegation for the next week, a town that has twie been named the Best UK Seaside Town. At the peak of the fishing industry over 120 million fish were brought through St Ives! But Team Slovenia beware, St Ives is a hotspot for shark sightings, in 2007 a Great White Shark was reportedly spotted off the coast and in 2011 there was a suspected sighting of an Oceanic whitetip shark, both claims have been disputed, but nevertheless Slovenia need to watch their toes if they go in for a paddle! Art is very important in St Ives culture, with a St Ives branch of the Tate Gallery being established here. In particular, scuplture is important with famous artists like Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo being based here who were pioneers in modern sculpture. The sculpture garden at the Barhara Hepworth Museum is certainly worth a visit.

COUNTY LONDONDERRY (NIR) County Londonderry is located in Northern Ireland and has the motto - help comes from the Lord - a reminder of the strong Catholic community in this part of Northern Ireland. For the next week this county will be home to Indonesia @Griff88 and France @Benolympique@Bohemia, with the nations enjoying contrasting urban/rural experiences. Indonesia - Londonderry The city of Londonderry, often known as Derry, on the banks of the Foyle river will be home to the Indonesian delegation for the coming days. Derry remains the only completely intact walled city in Ireland and these walls were bult in the 17th Century by the English and Scottish as defences. The city is often called The Maiden City, because the city walls have never been breached, despite a 105 day attempt in 1689. Derry was also where The Troubles in Northern Ireland began, with the Battle of the Bogside, but it was also part of the end, as many historians think a ceasefire was negotiated in Derry before any national agreement was reached. The city is also home to 1 of 15 World Peace Flame Monuments, that was unveiled by Martin Luther King's son and was lit by children from both communities. Derry has also become a hotspot for culture, after being UK Capital of Culture in 2013. One of these events is the Big Tickle Comedy Festival that has attracted big names like Dara O Briain over the years. We hope that Indonesia will be able to enjoy some comedy whilst they are here, but they may need to listen well as the accent can be quite thick in these parts! France - Binevenagh Mountain Team France will be based at Binevenagh Mountain, which has been used as a filming location for Game of Thrones. The mountain has a highest point of nearly 400m and has been classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The mountain is commonly used for Air Sports like Gliding and fishing, as an artificial lake at the top of the mountain is a popular destination for trout fishermen. The mountain is a popular destination for walkers and we hope the French delgation enjoy the amazing views from the peak of the mountain, but they'll need to muster the energy to climb the mountain first! For those of us not lucky enough to be based at Binevenagh, here is a little taster of what it is like...

Not yet, I am making my way down the voting order, you'll have to wait couple of days sadly!

GWYNEDD (WAL) The county of Gwynedd is located in North West Wales and has a majority Welsh speaking population (quite rare fr modern Wales). The name Gwynedd comes from the ancient Kingdom of Gwynedd, which was an independent kingdom from when the romans left until the 13th Century. For the next few weeks this county will be home to Argentina @konig@LDOG and Kazakhstan @Ruslan, one will be on the mainland and one on an island.. Kazakhstan - Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch If you are wondering how you say it, then this weatherman nails the pronounciation! I expect the Kazakh delegation to have it nailed as well by the time they make there way to the Grand Final! Oficially it is the longest place name in Europe, and second longest in the world, only beaten by Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu in New Zealand. The name itself was a publicity stunt to attract attention to the new railway station in the 1860s, but the locals have embraced it and the name has stuck. There is more to the village than the name, as the first ever Women's Insititute meeting took place in the vllage. Argentina - Ynys Mon The island of Ynys Mon, or Anglesey in English, is known for its beaches and its royals. It has been taken over by Vikings and Normans over the Islands history and the completion of Telford's Brittania Bridge in 1826 revolutionised the island as access was made much easier. Today the island has one of the homes of Prince William and Kate and with stunning coastlines that attract visitors from across the UK. The Argentinian delegation are in for a beautiful week on the Island and this short video gives a small taster of what is in store for Argentina..