11 September 1714

The meaning of this date around the world is one of dread and terror.  Whenever someone mentions this date as in "Oh, we meeting for a drink on the 11th of September?" we instantly think of that awful day in 2001.  It'll no longer be just another day.

In Barcelona it is a day that means something quite different.  The events of that day over 300 years ago are remembered by the Catalan people in a show of defiance.

It began with the Spanish War Of Succession, a major European Conflict spanning 1701-1714.  It started with the death of Charles II, the last Hapsburg King of Spain whose Empire spanned the globe.

Charles' choice of heir to his throne was Phillip V of Spain but it was not without facing resistance from other nations throughout Europe.

Philip was favoured by the Bourbon king of France, Louis the XIV, his Grandfather, who had his own aspirations for dominance.

Game of Thrones enough for you yet?

A number of other nations were against this alliance, among them were England and Scotland who from 1707 formed the United Kingdom, The Austrian Empire, The Netherlands, Portugal, the Spanish loyal to Charles and a little country to the North East of the Iberian peninsula called Catalonia.

With the city of Barcelona laying at it's heart, it enjoyed good Mediterranean trade to the East; the mountainous region with its rolling hillsides also saw the threat of a France/Spain alliance.

In 1701 these countries signed an alliance at The Hague in the Netherlands before declaring war on France and Spain

After 13 years of war the British and the Dutch made peace with Spain and France in the Treaty of Utrecht, leaving Catalonia to fight on alone.

With growing strength the Spanish armies moved further and further inwards of Catalonia until they were eventually surrounding the capital City of Barcelona.

14 months went by until the morning of 11th of September 1714 when the Spanish invaded the city and butchered all 10,000 Catalan troops inside.

Catalonia was no longer separate from Spain.

Catalan nationalism has been on the rise over recent years.

Since 2012 it's been seen as a popular day of protest in support of Catalonia becoming a separate state from Spain once more.  Hundreds of thousands of people have made their way on to the streets, carrying their Senyeras and Independence flags.

However, the most remarkable protest was in 2013 when a 300 mile human chain, known as the Catalan Way was created from the Catalan border with France at Le Perthus in the North, all the way to the southern tip of Catalonia, Alcanar.  It was said to involve 1.3million people.

What makes this year so special is that in just sixteen days Catalans go to the polls to decide their Independence.

I say special. This has happened before. In 2012, there was overwhelming support for independence with around 80% voting for, I believe that those who didn't vote 'yes' voted instead for Catalonia to become a recognised state within Spain.  This vote was not recognised by Spain.

There now appears to be a tug of war in the Catalan independence debate between the Catalan Parliament.  I think it'll happen eventually but only in baby steps.  Catalonia now seems to be saying they want to set up things like their own government department and even an Army.

If they're only talking about doing that now then who knows how far away independence is?  Someone I spoke to said that it could be as little as 18 months away.

Whilst I doubt that I really hope it happens.  Catalonia is not Spain. That's a popular message graffitied on walls.  They're an entirely different people.  Imagine if Germany and Poland were still a joint nation, same thing here.

Pep Guardiola, the former Barcelona player and treble-winning coach, is a vehement supporter of independence saying that he would have played for The Catalan national team if he had been given the chance.  Staying in the world of football, the whole debate heated up this week with Barca central defender Gerrard Pique said to have sent a mischievous tweet gloating over a Real Madrid playing friend at his team's treble success last season.

The tweet was blown out of proportion by the media and Pique called a press conference yesterday explaining his position.  The rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona is only intensified by the independence debate.  Barca are staunch supporters of Catalan Nationalism and events in support of Independence are held at the Camp Nou.

One thing that is offered up within the debate is what would happen to FC Barcelona?  Would they continue to play in Spain's La Liga?  

Personally I can't see any reason why not.  Barcelona is La Liga and vice versa.  It's this question that helps define the case for Independence.  FC Barcelona and La Liga are intwined within each other's cultures.  Catalonia and Spain are not.  Oh and Real Madrid are in town on Saturday playing away at Espanyol.  

The big question in all this of course is will Catalonia get it's independence before they finish the Segreda Familia?

The race is on....

OUTRAGE!! Read all about it!

We all saw it etc...

What do you reckon is worse? 

Scenario A) Katie Hopkins, in her article 'Rescue Boats, I'd use Gunships To Stop Migrants', on the 17th of April, perhaps prophetically, that she doesn't care about bodies floating in the water...

or

Scenario B) Using the image of a young child's body floating in the water to sell newspapers?

The Sun newspaper did both.

Disaster porn sells, we learnt this on September 11th 2001 and then remember Roaul Moat? 

 

I vividy remember that Friday evening.  Everyone was on Facebook, including me, commenting while glued to either Sky News or the BBC News 24.

When does the important task of news broadcasting become the less important task of collecting profit?

If you only got your news from the Sun then you'd think the war in Syria started last week, not three years ago.

It's a shame that it took the death of young Aylan Kurdi before the British press thought it was important to act.  

The Sun's headline on Thursday was "Mr Cameron, summer is over ...now deal with the biggest crisis facing Europe since WW2" and it was accompanied by two pictures.  The one on the left, a baby born in a Hungarian train station on Wednesday and on the right a picture of a police? officer carrying young Aylan's limp, lifeless body.

On Friday they ran a 'crisis campaign' with the headline "For Aylan", detailng 'YOU can aid kids like tragic tot'.

On Saturday, this was followed by self-congratulation of helping raise £350,000 for the 'Help the Children's' campaign along with a smiling picture of Aylan in happier times.  This was accompanied by the 'For Aylan' article.  I'm sure his suffering family are delighted that his picture is being used as a pawn in a propaganda war.

And you just know they thought "I wonder if he had a mobile...... Oh damn, we don't do that anymore!"

I was wondering what news they were trying to bury? 

Then, last night.....  News came out that David Cameron wants to have another vote to bomb Syria.

This is a joke, right?  

This will need to go through a vote in Parliament; the last time that happened was in 2013. Cameron was all for dropping bombs on Syria but it didn't make the cut.

So, I'm thinking to myself "Why the sudden outrage from the Tories right wing press?Where have they been for the last three years of the Syrian war? And why now?!"

Beautifully done.  

First you have to create a fear of migrants, make people reluctant to take "them" in.  "Swarm of migrants".  Then you get the press to tell every that we need to start taking "them" in.

But then there's going to be opposition for this from the far right and the questions are asked, "How many more will we have to take?"

It's a worry, I know.  Too many migrants, we're full up.  There's six inches of space on the Isle of Wight but that'll soon be gone.

We can't leave the migrants to die, not now that a three year old boy has died in such distressing circumstances. We didn't realise people were dying, we just thought they were playing kiss-chase around Europe.

So this is the problem; we can't leave them to die. We need to take in as many as we can but once we're full, we're full. But, we'll be full up and people will still be dying. 

 

What to do?

 

The only thing to do is to bomb Syria.

How long until someone suggests that ISIS are a few months away from getting their hands on WMD, I wonder?

And, that's not all.  The Guardian today is running a story that Cameron 'hinted at' (it's noncommittal so that Cameron doesn't need to confirm or deny anything) that he might abandon the vote to bomb Syria if Jeremy Corbyn wins the Labour leader race.  A last ditched attempt to prevent people from voting Corbyn.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph is running a story that Corbyn will block help going to Syria.

We can't have someone opposing government austerity measures, now can we?

Don't buy the press, read me instead.  I'll tell you what's REALLY going on.

The Ugly Subject Of Two People Wanting To Do Something Together That You Don't Like Despite It Not Affecting You In Any Way

So we've got this American, what is she, a clerk? Who is refusing to marry homosexual couples in her courthouse in the states.  I believe it's in the state of Kentucky, famous for fried chicken and the derby.

Usually this would be me having a rant about why the whole of the UK is showing double standards because it doesn't want to go to war with the states over their religious extremism but we do when Muslims do it.  It's the pork thing, isn't it?  Pork makes all the difference.

So yeah basically she's a devout Christian and because of that she feels she can't encourage the act of love between same sex couples.  Nothing wrong with that, it's an opinion and remember people just because someone's opinion offends someone else doesn't mean they're not entitled to that opinion.

I wasn't sure what was totally going on here, I mean I wasn't sure if she was employed by the American government, even at local level, or if she was somehow freelance.  I used to work for the Ministry of Justice in the UK. In that court I think we sometimes had judges who were in some way outsourced to us and sometimes judges could "pick and choose" which cases they heard, in fact I think even our permanent judges did that.

It was family law so I'd be interested to know if we ever had a judge that had a similar view to our little homophobic friend, Kim Davis (I think it's time to introduce her name in the article) and if that judge decided that they didn't want to rubber stamp the adoption of a child by a gay couple.  Judges never gave a reason why they wanted to not hear a case.

So yeah basically I wasn't sure what was happening so I decided to do a bit of research/ask someone on Facebook.  I got some good responses that gave me the details.

Basically she is an elected official, by refusing to do this she can be impeached.  If the equivalent of this were happening in the UK and the Tories weren't quick enough to cover it up with another comical story about Jeremy Clarkson helping disabled kids then she'd lose her job and they'd get her a seat in the House of Lords. Sadly there is no such house in the US, everyone has to be elected through some silly outdated system called "democracy".

This reminded me, as I'm sure it did you too, of two similar cases in the last few years in the UK.

One was a bed and breakfast and the other was a bakery.  In both cases they were small business owners and they refused to serve homosexual people due to their prehistoric religious beliefs.

The issue wasn't so much the fact that the customers were homosexual, more to do with the fact that, in the case of the B&B the couple wanted to stay in the same bed, (I mean, the shame) and by allowing them to do this under their roof the B&B owner would be betraying the word of God by endorsing the act of sodomy.

In a similar vein with the bakers, the homosexual couple, I believe wanted a cake showing and endorsing their love for each other.  Disgusting, two people who love each other wanting to share that love with others, what is the world coming to!?

I reckon if one person from each of the two couples went to the respective businesses to use their services and the businesses knew that each of them was gay I doubt they would have been refused service, their view was just that they didn't want to be seen endorsing that view.  Other people doing something with another person that doesn't effect you in anyway can be hard, I admit.

Someone on Facebook made an excellent point that this is exactly the same as if they didn't want to serve Irish or Chinese people and I agree, this is no different than saying you don't want to serve Chinese or Irish people but I really do believe if that's the person's stance, they don't want to serve Irish, Chinese or gay people in their own company then that's up to them, seriously.

They do not share my views, I love everyone, I want to travel everywhere and experience as many different cultures as I can.  I'd happily live six months to a couple of years with Berbers in Morocco, Buddhists monks in Tibet, a Muslim household in Iran and I'd live the way they live, got no issue with that.

By the same token if someone wanted to come to "my country" to live and didn't want to integrate with the culture of "my country" that's okay too.  I'm happy to let people just do what they want.

Let's let people be judged by their opinions.  The shit will sink to the bottom and the good will raise.  Those who endorse equal opportunities to everyone will become pillars of the community and those that hold secular opinions won't get anywhere and will begin to wonder if they're the ones in the wrong.

In the Kim Davis case she is required by law to carry out her orders to serve the public, community, society....  She doesn't have the right to say "but my opinion is this..." That's cute, now do your job. 

She should have to face legal proceedings if she continues with this stance and then she'll lose her job and unfortunately for her due to the publicity this story has received she'll find it difficult to get another one.  Sadly not impossible but difficult.

At the root of this is obviously religious beliefs.  The words of Gods, ie religious scriptures, were written thousands of years ago*.  It could have been that the words of God were misinterpreted?

*In the case of Jedi those words were written a long time ago in a galaxy far far way.  We're not sure how long nor how far but I think one can assume that they're even more to interpretation.

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Facebook, Twitter and Politics (Good news contained within)

As you'd know if you were my friend on Facebook, follow me on Twitter or have ever met me in person I'm very politically minded. I can't help this, nor should I feel the need to apologise.

I remember about ten years ago when I was first getting interested in politics.  I wanted to know who I should be voting for, nothing anyone was saying made much sense to me, I wanted to know who I should be voting for.  I spoke to a colleague about it and she recommended that I go and research the three main parties to find out what they stood for.

That research took a long time and over the course of ten years I found out that I am a socialist.  Obviously then I should be voting Labour, but no, wait! Jeremy Corbyn is a socialist and yet he is being attacked by fellow Labour people.

What I like about the Labour Leadership Election is that, for some reason, Tories are getting involved in "who they would like" as Labour Leader and why.  Err, you're not supposed to like it, it's Labour, not your party.

The way the Labour Party is currently undergoing conditioning reminds me of how Abraham Lincoln must be turning in his grave at the current state of his Republican Party.

I don't understand why we have to campaign to save or even help the week and the vulnerable.  The statistics of the people that have died after having their benefits cut are appalling, why aren't people on the streets rioting?

And people wonder why I'm depressed?

I'm starting to think this is a cycle, it makes me depressed so I share it and that makes me depressed.

On Monday I went on a bit of a sharing splurge, I shared loads of political stuff and I think this didn't help me.  What's more I know a load of people have stopped following me, not necessarily unfriended me, just stopped following the stuff I post.  While I don't need the vanity of having people agree and I'm certainly not going to post something because someone else doesn't like it although I am going to stop sharing the political stuff.

On an anti UKIP page I follow some girl is forever sharing stuff displaying, what she believes, to be racist posts.  I often look at that and I think "is this your life?"  Although she potentially has the moral high ground what's the point?  It's dedicating your entire life to the pointless task of always being right, what's the point of that, you're not winning any friends.

I get frustrated by social injustice, some people think I'm jealous, no, just frustrated.  If I were jealous of rich people wouldn't I be jealous of all rich people? What's more I follow a load of gambling pages on Facebook and Twitter, whenever I see a big win off like £5 I always offer my congratulations.  I believe in karma, be nice to the universe and it'll be nice to you.

People think they've worked me out and know what I think.  They make assumptions based on this and then form ill informed opinions.

I know some people feel opinionated about this, feel free to get in touch, privately or publicly.

But yes, the good news is I won't be sharing political news on Facebook anymore!  Yay...

Opinions

I find it hard allowing other people to have an opinion on me that I neither agree with or can control.  I know, right?  I'm sharing all my hopes and fears with the world, what do I expect?  What's more I want to be successful at something that, just by definition of me doing it, will arouse opinions from others.

If I do go on to be a successful writer, even if I'm the best writer ever, I'll have people that won't like what I write and will form an opinion on it, whether I like it or not and some of those opinions are going to be nasty.  

I don't do well with criticism, I don't do too well with praise either, if I'm honest.  I reckon I can put in the hard craft to create a piece of work that I'm proud of and willing to share but I think taking criticism from others when it's the finished polished article is what I'll find difficult.  Hopefully by then I'll be paid loads of cash and it won't matter but what if I'm not paid a lot and I still get criticism?

I'm in between having made the decision to go for it and having made it, criticism is coming, if I can take on the constructive criticism and ignore the negative nasty comments for long enough then I'll be at stage where it won't matter.

This fear of criticism has prevented me from sharing stuff with others before.  On my other blog, the satirical news blog, I've had loads of stories that I've written but just never shared through fear of someone saying something that I can't control. Their opinion is slightly skewed and is not taking everything into consideration.

The trouble is anyone can have an opinion on anything, even if you haven't had all the facts.  Whose got an opinion on how the universe was created?  Most of us have, were you there? Oh....

People think that having a majority in a debate makes them right.  I don't care if I'm in the only one that holds a particular opinion, likes a particular film, believes a particular theory it's still my opinion and what is right is that we all get the chance to have our own opinions, whether they be right or wrong.

Have your opinion on me, I might find it hard to take at first but eventually I'll get over it.

Feelings

Sometimes it's hard to put into words how you feel, I am going to try.  It's long.

First off I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me.  I want to be treated like a human being just like everyone else.

Neither do I want anyone to think that, after my previous post, I'm on some crusade against capitalism.  There's nothing wrong with capitalism, there's nothing wrong with socialism but either of them in their extremes are bad.

I feel that I, no-one else, just me, has been hypnotised (I can't think of a better word) into thinking I need possessions in my life to make it better.  I feel that, when I'm in a shop looking at products that by owning those products my life will somehow be enhanced.

This conditioning has lead me to own a number of pieces of crap that I don't need.  I have Playstation games that are years old that I haven't even opened.  How do I get enjoyment out of something that I don't even use?  

If you asked me to list all those books, from my previous post, that I've never read then I'd have trouble.  Do I miss them?  No.  When I'm holding them thinking "should I get rid of this?" I couldn't possibly give it away or even sell it.

Making this break was easy, throwing away stuff that I didn't need and couldn't fit into my parents garage wasn't easy but I managed it.  That's where the bravery comes in, not sitting in Barcelona living on the poverty line trying to find work, that's easy.

People have commended me for showing guts, I don't think I have, this is the easy part.  Coming back to the UK, getting a job, earning money and trying not to spend it all on shit I don't need, that's the hard part.  If I manage that then I have guts.

I spoke to my family, at last, over the weekend on FaceTime.  I didn't realise I could otherwise I would have don't it ages ago.  I spoke to my sister, her boyfriend and their kids on Saturday and then my parents on Monday.

We spoke about the obvious.  How am I surviving and when am I coming home.  I looked at my nephew and told him that I love him very much.  I do wonder if he's thinking "why then did you run off to Barcelona?  If you loved me that much surely you would have stayed to play with me?"  

I don't know if he thinks that but it's logical.  Him and his sister mean the world to me, I would die for them so leaving the UK and choosing not to see them on months on end doesn't make sense.

I don't think my brain works like a normal person's.  I've thought this for a while, maybe 15, 20 years, maybe a little bit less, maybe 10.

My heart desires things that I think I need, this is a deep feeling inside my head, kind of like a trauma that has effected me and I buy stuff to make up for it.  My childhood was great, my sister turned out fine, it's just me that's broken.

I have a chemical imbalance in my brain and despite numerous visits to my GP I can't get a definitive diagnosis of this.  I had counselling at the turn of the year and didn't do much, I had more counselling in the spring and again this did nothing.  The second counsellor gave me a half diagnosis that I'm not depressed but others have told me that I definitely am.

I'm definitely stressed, that's for sure and repeatedly going to my GP trying to use the right words to help me get a diagnosis doesn't help.  I might as well bang my head up against a brick wall.

Anyone that is a friend on Facebook will know how political I am.  I'm forever sharing left-wing propaganda because I feel there is an injustice in the world, especially in British politics.  Remember that MP who had to pay back that money because he used it having his moat cleaned, he's just been made a Lord.  Can anyone else see the problem?

Take a look at ISIS, the "Islamic" extremists.  There is a deep left-wing belief that this group was created by Israel, secretly.  The point being that these people would raise tensions in the Middle East in the name of Islam and the world would be in uproar calling for war against Muslims.

On one of the numerous Facebook groups I read one female Muslim was talking about what Afghanistan was like in the 1970s.  She posted a picture and it was unrecognisable.  It looked like a Islamic version of the western world.  I need to do more research on this but her point was that the Afghanistan as we know it today is an American creation going along the same theme seen above.

On Wednesday two U.S. journalists were gunned down while live on air by a former colleague.  I read on the BBC that this guy was raised as a Jehovah Witness.  Why is it that if this guy had been a Muslim he'd have been regarded as a terrorist?

I was debating with former Conservative MP Louise Mensch on Friday evening and she said that most extreme Muslims are "Wahhabbis".  I know, I'm envisaging the same Elmer Fudd Photoshopped tie-in "I'm hunting Wahhabbis" that you are.  Another thing to research before jumping to conclusions.

I've got friends who think we should carpet bomb the whole of the Middle East.  What about the people that live there that are peaceful?  Let alone all the history, civilisation was born in the Middle East.  A carpet bombing of Syria for example would completely destroy Damascus, the world's oldest city.

I try and debate the point that there are 1.6billion Muslims in this world and that less than half a percent, about 8 million of them are terrorists.  That estimate seems a bit high so I googled it.  Just for shits and giggles.  

The first link was from a Christian website that carries an article about a woman who believes that "15-25% of the world's Muslims are terrorist".  To be fair to the website their article is balanced and they provide a counter argument from another source.

15-25% of the world's Muslims is 240m to 400m.  If either figure was correct we'd be dead already.  That's enough people and enough fire power to wipe us all out.  I reckon my estimate of about 8 million is more accurate and I reckon before America rocked up with their military bases the percentage was lower.

I'd be pissed off if someone put a military base in my country and strutted around like they owned the place and had the audacity to negotiate and decide whether my country could have nuclear weapons.

Relax, I'm not converting to Islam, I couldn't give up bacon.  I'm trying to give you an insight into how I find it hard to cope with the injustices of this world.  I can't let it go when I see someone who doesn't have the right of reply made a scapegoat by warmongering right-wing propaganda.  There's money to be made out of being anti-Islamic.

My problems are deep and aren't going to be fixed by trying the same things over and over again.  What's that quote about insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?

My problems aren't going to be fixed by living on the poverty line in Barcelona either but it is a break from the norm.

When I first came here I had to be badgered into blogging, now look, what is it, four articles a week? The script I've been writing for about three years is finished (still looking for readers and constructive criticism), another book has began to be written.  I've written the synopsis, I know what happens from beginning to end, the story is there, I just need words on the page.

My blog carries adverts for which I get paid.  It's nowhere near sustainable but it is slowly improving.  In July I made .41p, in August I think there was two separate days where I almost made that amount on each of those days alone.

Last weekend I was on about .85p for the month and was wondering if I could get it up to £1 by this coming Monday, the 31st.  I looked on Tuesday evening after I posted that day's blog and it was on £1.17 for the month.  Not totally sure how it manages to make that massive leap, perhaps for the first time in the history of the Internet someone clicked on one of those adverts that offers laser eye surgery.

If I can continue to blog, add people who read it and by the looks of things I can then hopefully I'll pick up enough people that this will give me and income.  The blog is just based on stuff that I think, nothing specific, you've got to come on here with an open mind and be willing to let me rant whilst understanding that I still realise that I know that what I say and think is not taken as truth.  My opinion counts as nothing if no-one else agrees, other than the fact that it's my opinion to which I'm entitled.  I also recognise that others are entitled to their opinions, there's a Voltaire quote in this....

I'm still thinking that staying here for one more month is the answer.  Me and the landlady have discussed the rent issue and I've asked I can stay here for one more month rent free and if I manage to pick up work I'll back date my rent.  I think she's accepted it.

Three o'clock yesterday morning he was on the phone, loudly.  I don't know if he knows I can here him and it prevents me from getting some sleep, or wakes me up.  Who was he ringing at that time anyway, late night talk radio stations talking about UFOs? The kids are often up until that time, also loudly.  It's only because I'm a night owl that it doesn't bother me but what if it did?  They don't even bother to check if I care or try and calm the situation down.  The kids enter my room when I'm not here as well.  I had a street map that was ripped and on the floor when I came home yesterday.

This flat is going to be extremely hard to rent.  It's definitely illegal and along with the unsociable noise they're going to find it difficult to get someone as stupid as me to live here.  They may as well take a punt on giving me one more month.

I'm one step closer to getting my NIE number.  The first hostel I staying in needs a photographer.  I told him I would do it for free if he could "offer" me a job.  He's sorted it and now I'm going to be arranging my appointment.  Get that done and then who knows.  Even if I have to return to the UK I'll be closer to getting something.

Where is my life going?

I wrote this before I came out here in May.

I've edited it a bit but I've tried to keep it as I originally wrote it as much as possible.

I should have gone to university.  I was too keen to join the work force to buy things for myself.  I should have gone to university, this would have given me time away from home and more importantly my parents whom I love dearly, the last two months has proved that to me.  However you need to make that break away from your family as early as possible.

Obviously they're the people that you love the most and they'll always be there for you but you need to get out and discover, they'll still be there when you get back so just go!

It's not their fault, it's no-ones fault.  I'm the offspring of capitalism, I want things.  I buy books that I never read just because they look nice, I want the latest gadgets and a large collection of Playstation games.

I've lived this existence since I left school, 16 years.

So why am I not happy?

I stayed at home, got a job as quickly as possible so that I could lavish myself with fine things because that's what I thought I should be doing but when I look around at others I see that other people live with very little and yet are happy.

I'm not sure what happiness is but I do have a yearning to travel.

Two things have previously prevented me from doing this, one being that I have too many possessions, how ironic is that, the stuff I've been working so hard to buy is now the very thing possibly preventing me from being happy.

And the second thing is fear.  I'm safe at the moment, I have a steady job, that's dead end and going nowhere but it is safe.

If I leave it all to go travelling will it all go tits up and end in tears? Sorry about the double cliché.

On top of that what if playing it safe is actually the risk? What if I never make that break and then in 20 years time it's too late?

For that reason I've decided to make that break and try for happiness.

At first I was thinking that I'm giving myself some options, I was either going to go and volunteer, probably in India or going and live dirt cheap somewhere in the EU, probably Barcelona, a city that I've loved since I first visited in 1996.  I'm hoping that this break away from my comfortable lifestyle will give me a new perspective.

In the end I chose Barcelona.  I'm on the train now writing this.

I plan to blog whilst away so stay tuned.

When's it going to be my turn?

Remember that Irish bar I told you that I nearly got a job in last week?  I went back on Friday and the boss was showing a new guy around, he looked English.  This was 48 hours after telling me that they weren't hiring for another month.  I don't know if they already had that guy lined up, I mean 48 hours is a quick turn around for a job, isn't it? I'm going back in there today or tomorrow to ask the guy what is happening.

In my last blog I spoke about an opportunity that if it works will be amazing and possibly beyond my wildest dreams.  Reporting on FC Barcelona.  I may also be doing pitchside photography of the matches.  That would be ideal because I should have no problem selling these pictures on to agencies/newspapers.

Yesterday the former player Pedro who left last week to join Chelsea returned to Barcelona to "say goodbye" to team mates, fans and the media.  Had I have known I would have tried to go. I'm not sure if they would have managed to sort my press accreditation in time but I would have liked to have tried.  All the players turned up, had I gone I could have probably made enough money to have a comfortable life here for a few months.  

Newspapers prefer working direct with the photographer rather than an agency as they can make specific requests.  I have my copy of the Freelance Photographers Handbook with me so if the press accreditation gets sorted for this Saturday's home game against Malaga and I can take pictures I'll be emailing every British based newspaper this week asking if they would need pictures and if they have any specific requests.

There's pros and cons to it though, if I sell pictures through an agency then I can make money every time they sell it to another publication or website.  If I build up a relationship with a single publication they'll guarantee payment for the pictures I provide, however if I wait it out and get lucky enough to get the best picture they all want then jackpot as it will always continue to be used and sold on.  I think most photographers work like this.  When you see a big story everyone seems to carry the same picture if it's the ideal picture for the story.  If it is the ideal picture then it wouldn't do it just to just be stuck on one publication.

Imagine being lucky enough to get the best picture of the winning goal and then sending it off in time to make a few of the early editions?  If I did that it would give me enough money to live here for a few months, I'd live cheaply obviously so it should last quite a while.

It wouldn't need to end there either.  There are magazines, try the postcards route again, maybe get them in a few shops.  A few weeks ago I might have been accused of being a fantasist for thinking this is a possibility but it could soon be a reality.

I wrote a match report for Sunday's game away at Bilbao, it's here if anyone wants to read it - http://www.insidespanishfootball.com/160813/athletic-bilbao-0-1-barcelona-barcelona-avenge-spanish-super-cup-defeat/

There's also a bit of a call for photo journalists, everyone sadly has a camera these days so it's easy to snap a story.  If you're in the right place at the right time even someone with a camera phone can make a bit of money.  As much as we celebrate the leap in technology it makes it increasingly harder for a professional photographer to make it. Yet this is a field I'm looking to move into?  Now do people understand why I chose football.

However there are still commissions from agencies that want to guarantee a picture to go with a story so you can still make a living.  You just need to communicate with the right people.

I've always had a knack of somehow being in the right place at the right time when it comes to taking pictures of famous people so I believe this can be something that I need to keep plugging away at and eventually it will come good.

I've not given up hope, I'm still plugging away.  You'll be pleased to know last night I splashed out on a pizza, Dominos is just around the corner from me.  It was tasty and I still have some left.

Oh and a few weeks ago I met a Japanese guy who had never heard of Transformers.  Who weird is that, I thought everyone knew about Transformers!

The Book of Jarvis

I'm starting my own religion, who's in?  You can do whatever you like as long as you don't go hurting other people, that's the only rule.  Don't ask me to define that, it's a religious text, it's supposed to be open to interpretation.

If you want to have sex with someone of any gender that you've just met while placing a bet and eating a carrot then who am I to say that's wrong?

The only rule is that you don't use physical force of any kind towards other people at any time, unless as a last resort, and you certainly can't do it in the name of the Book of Jarvis, that will go against the words within the Book of Jarvis.

Any person can live their lives in any way they like which is fine, don't attack them in the name of the Book of Jarvis, that's my only rule.  How you live your life in other ways is up to you, I would hope that you would have the decency not to steal, not to badger another bloke's wife unless they've mutually separated, not to gamble unless you can afford it, basically just try to be an all round decent person.

I can't guarantee that you'll be allowed into the Kingdom of Jarvis when you die, it depends who I've got round at the time, space may be at a premium.

There is no Jarvis Land that is yours by right just because of your religious beliefs, settle wherever you like and just try to give others enough space so that they can live as well.  In fact what I would prefer is that everyone had an equal share of land, nothing too much.  Just as long as everyone has enough room for their families to live in peace, maybe grow a few crops and access to some clean drinking water then it's good.

As for creationism and how we all got here the theory on this is ever changing.  At the time of writing the Universe is 13.8 billion years old, is massive (like 87 billion light years across or something) and it started from nothing.  We don't know how it started.  Don't question me, these are the words of the Book of Jarvis.

Understanding the birth of universe is best defined like this.  Some of you have heard my theory on this before.

6,000 years ago man invented the wheel, there was a time in man's evolution where we hadn't yet quite achieved the intelligence to invent the wheel, 500,000 years ago, maybe?  This is where we are.  We don't quite have the intelligence to understand the creation of the universe, I happen to think we'll get there though.

I think that's it really, don't hurt others unless absolutely necessary in order to defend oneself or those too weak to defend themselves when an oppressor is using unnecessarily excessive force, nothing is yours just because of religious entitlement and I don't claim to have any of the answers on why humans have two legs but dogs get to have four.

Also you can wear what you like or nothing at all, it's up to you.

Oh and my birthday, 23 of September, is a religious holiday for all followers of the Book of Jarvis.

Threading the needle

Wednesday was kind of D-Day for me in more ways than one.  

First of all it was the day that I was finally going to get my NIE number, secondly it was the day I was told to come back as an Irish bar made a decision about employing me.

I made my way to the office to get my NIE number, waited patiently and when I got to speak to the woman, in Spanish, she told me I didn't have the right documents, in Spanish.  She gave me some paperwork that I'm doing a rather good job of translating myself.  It tells me what I need.  I do feel like I've made progress.

I left there devastated and angry.  I'm pissed off at my landlord refusing to meet me in the middle and provide me with the required documents.  I have options with regard to the NIE number so watch this space.

I made my way to the Irish bar looking for good news, nothing yet, the manager spoke with the owner and they're not employing anyone until the end of September.  The rugby World Cup starts in the middle of September so I'm going to keep in regular contact with them until then.

On Sunday a friend on Twitter gave me a link to a English speaking website that covers Spanish football.  They're looking for writers.  I've applied, had a chat over email, written an article and I've been accepted.

I will now be reporting on the goings on of FC Barcelona, the games, the transfers and any other stories surrounding the club.

This is the big bit, they're sorting out press accreditation for me.  I'll have access to the Camp Nou on match days, reporting on their games and on what I see.

I've mentioned that I'm a photographer and that I could possibly do both the match reports and photography of the games, they're looking into that for me.

We haven't discussed expenses but they were mentioned in the job description.  If they want me to travel all over Spain and indeed Europe covering Barcelona then I believe they're going to pay my expenses.  If they're not then they're going to need to wait until I'm making some decent money.

The downer is that at first I won't be getting paid, I need to prove that my stories can get website hits and I need to be doing it for long enough.

As things stand I can't afford to stay here throughout September.  I need more money.

I'm looking at that, I'm going to set up a Crowdfunding page to see if I can make this work.  Help on doing that would be handy.

Imagine taking pictures every week of Messi et el?  Build up a decent collection and sell them on.  That would make me enough money to live here, just supplying pictures to photography agencies.  Then if I can carry on the reporting long enough I'll be getting paid.

Plus with this I'll be able to get the paperwork sorted that has so far eluded me.

Last week some people were begging me to come home back to the UK.  I said I wanted to give it one more month and try to stay here throughout September and return back to the UK having succeeded or failed in October.  Obviously if it is me having succeeded then it'll only be a short break.

If I do return home at the beginning of September, I'd need to leave here on September 1st, then the flight will be about £100, if I leave here at the beginning of October it'll be about £30.  

If people were queuing up to lend me the cash to pay for my flight then that's a few hundred quid, I could pay my rent and book my flight at the beginning of October now.  

Every penny will be paid back so if you were looking to lend me the money for the plane home then get in touch.

I don't have enough money to live on but I'm taking pictures of the best team in the world, honestly, my life.

I've also written a script if you want to read it and give me your opinions then get in touch.