Sun, sand and scarfs
These days are hard times for the "diddy" teams and they rely heavily on your support.
PLEASE PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CLUBS MATCH DAY PROGRAMME.
Raith Rovers 2-1 Cowdenbeath 23 July 2011
It is a little hard to believe that the footballing "summer" break is over, as here in Barcelona we are just getting ready for summer. I am especially looking forward to a summer of football on the beach, well, listening to the football on the radio on the beach. (Anyone who has an iPhone, iPod, android phone or app-capable device should know about TuneIn Radio App. Radio from wherever, wherever you want it. )
Barcelona's local government have spent some time and money on installing a public WiFi system or as they say here "weeeeee feeeeee". This allows you to log on and use the Internet for free wherever you see the blue sign with a big white W. And these things are everywhere, parks, at the end of my street and on the beach. Over the last couple of weekends whilst having a wee ice-cream on the sands, I have been putting it to the test to see if can cope with BBC radio Scotland around 4pm local time, kick off to a new season in the coming weeks. Pleased to say tests are going well!
Changed times from when I first moved here almost 5 years ago. We had no Internet at home and getting a phone line here at that time could be a patience testing experience. No Internet means no instant news on things at home, the world news and most important no easy access to the coming and goings down at Stark’s Park. To make matters worse within a few weeks of getting here I fell off a curb and broke my ankle. After nearly two weeks in hospital I escaped to a stair-filled world. My nearest Internet was 4 flights of stairs and 3 blocks away. I was reduced to a few phone calls home. We did however used to get a free game on the tele on a Saturday afternoon, a Scottish game, normally one of the two but a game nonetheless. But no one here watches football in the afternoon so that soon stopped.
It is a little bit different now. In the past few years the word has been bombarded with new technology to allow you any information needed anywhere at your fingertips. iPhones, iPads, tablets, most mobile phones have the ability to do pretty much everything except maybe the ironing. I love it! I can even have my laptop set up to give me all the news every morning with the touch of a button. For the past few season expat fans have been able to get pretty much football on demand. Sure some comes at a price, I am led to believe that Sky allow you to watch football thru your computer if you have a UK Sky account, you can of course get your sky dish here! BBC radio Scotland’s “open all mics”, “off the ball” and many other football programmes live or when you want on the iPlayer.
I personally love the podcast, a wee bit of what you want helps kill those long minutes spent on the metro. So whilst reading my Barcelona Metro paper I listen to the tones from home with news of all things football.
I have even had a an old uni mate, an Aberdeen fan, email me from somewhere in the middles of China to say he heard an email read out on “Off the Ball” about a Raith Rovers fan living in Barcelona, he did not think there were many of those so assumed it was me!
Maybe now we have to add “iFan” to the list, armchair fan, die-hard fan, and fan-natic.
Believe me it is not perfect, when “due to rights restrictions this broadcast is not available in your area” can come over the WiFI waves this can see me returning to the odd phone call home and waiting for sport pages to refresh on the internet to give me updates. But it has made the past few season a lot more fun and little less distant. But nothing beats being there.
So here is to the start of the season, only this time and I can work on my tan while cheering on the Rovers. All I need now is a Raith Rovers Bikini!
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