Rain, Rovers, and Running with fire!





I am sure some of you will be pleased to know that I am looking our my Barcelona window and seeing some good Scottish Rain!! 


Last week in my wee part of Barcelona we had our civic week style celebrations, which as you can see involve running with fire and some wee devils!!


Enjoy a blast from the past this week with an old one from last years "Letters from Barcelona"


PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MATCH DAY PROGRAMME

"Letters from Barcelona"


I am sure some of you will be pleased to know that this week in Barcelona we have had “Scottish” style weather for a few days. At one point I thought I would getting the animals to go into the ark two by two. I had not seen rain like that in a long time. But I told the locals that 1 day of rain is nothing! 
However it has caused me a few “fashion” problems. I have been able to wear, and had to in some cases, wellies, full on wet weather gear, flip flops, sunglasses, and scarf… I am sure you get it. Roll on summer so I can get dressed without having to pack a change of seasonal clothing!
A few weeks ago when Barcelona hosted Arsenal in the last 16 of the champions league my partner and I planned our usual, go round to a mates and his massive, bigger than the room, TV with some beers and get our Catalan cheers ready, VENGA Barça!  Or so I thought! Someone was going to be going to the match and be trackside! Was it going to be the football fanatic of our household…NO! I was going to be watching the tiny men on the TV and he was going to be within spitting distance of Messi. Gutted does not come close.
To be fair he was not going for pleasure, he was working. So not only going to the match, but being paid to watch it.  He was working for a German TV channel, mainly setting up the lights etc trackside commentary position.  He had done it the previous year when Barcelona play Inter Milan but had thought it was a one off, but yet again, Westy was going to be in he heart of the action!
Now Camp Nou is located at the top of Barcelona and is an impressive home of football but it does have a few bad weather issues. No roof in many areas for one thing and if you have a wee bit of a breeze outside the ground you have a howling gale inside. Great for Spanish summer, terrible any other time!  Lucky as “locals” we know this so always go with extra clothes.
The game, atmosphere, crowd, all looked great on the TV.  As the match went on you could see the crowd getting snuggled down into the big coats. It was a cold night in Barcelona.
Just before kick of I got a text to say that Westy is at the ambulance tunnel and the 18 yard line. I jokingly said I would look out for him, but even with the gigantic TV you would never see him.  But if you look really really carefully at one of the reverse angle replays you can see a pair of eyes peering out of two hats, a snood, scarf, two jumpers and a massive puffer jacket surrounded by some very cold looking pundits and commentary staff. 
When he got home I asked was it different from the previous match with this being a better result for the home team. He told me that when the lost the previous year the whole ground was silent with the shock of a Barcelona defeat, but this time the home support were singing, waving scarves and rooted to the spot in awe at witnessing a little bit of class.

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