Author: Kate Wilson

Football Crazy

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

What’s come over me?
I get some strange looks when I talk to old friends about football and Barça. It’s not as if I have ever been a sporty person – at school I was more often found in the girls loos smoking tipped singles than racing round a hockey pitch in the wind and the rain.
And football – isn’t that a man’s thing?  Weren’t you a feminist once?
When Scotland played in the World Cup I watched the games out of national loyalty, but in a half hearted ironic sort of way.
In general I hated football fans, the beer guzzling, the macho posturing, the reverence shown for a group of boys running around after a ball, watched by other men and sometimes their girlfriends. I resented how much time and space football takes up on the TV and the newspapers.
So I totally understand why people glaze over when I tell them I am watching Barça play. When I say I am staying at home to watch a match. When I am excited after they win. When I write about it here or on Facebook. I must have been taken over by an alien, or worse….I have become one of those pathetic girlfriends who mindlessly support their boyfriends team!
My explanation of this new me
1. I always wanted Scotland to win – it was to do with wanting my small and colonised country to do something great. And this feeling was stronger if it meant beating England. However, with Scotland you have to get used to losing.  It is a triumph of hope over experience.
With Barça this isn’t a problem – they are symbolic of Catalunya, another small colonised country, and they win, again and again and again.  I like winning for a change.
2. I like them.   I wouldn’t support them just for being Catalan and for being the best. What matters to me is that they are different.  The players don’t seem like the arrogant, macho yobs you find in British teams. They have kind intelligent faces. Their coach is sensitive, gracious and humane and he speaks several languages.   They seem like normal humans.
3. The ethos of the club is something I can agree with.
4. The fans are ordinary people. I have tried to go shopping when the tide of Tottenham fans pass by and it is not a pleasant experience. However walking towards Camp Nou before a game is relaxing. There are families, people are chatting normally, I didn’t see any beer cans or shaved heads.
5. And the football is wonderful – I don’t understand the rules of off-side or know what a penalty is but I love watching Messi dribbling the ball, magically dodging the opposition, knowing exactly the moment to kick and the balls seems to be drawn to the goal.  It is like a dance, it seems effortless, it is a privilege to witness this skill.
6. I like that they play as a team, they support each other.  They are famous for their football and not for drunken rampages in night clubs.
What’s Behind It?
I read somewhere that the desire to root for a team comes from our longing for a family, for a group where we belong. This too is a powerful part of supporting Barça. I resisted it at first but actually it is very lovely to feel part of such a huge population of fans. I am happy to be part of this group. It is about living in Catalunya and feeling part of the culture.
I read that we also like to bask in reflected glory. And what glory there is to bask in with Barça!  I feel myself bursting with pride when they score a goal. It’s a weird feeling and not at all rational, but very very nice.
Studies show that people who support teams are more happy and less depressed. Even when they are on the losing side!  Supporting a team has some of the elements of myth and legend. The battle between good and evil,  the players are our mythical warriors and we want them to win the ultimate battle. In this story Barça has it all – they symbolise the small and oppressed nation of Catalunya, they seem to be good people and  in the battle against the baddies, they WIN!
Men and Women
A friend wrote to me after the last game that there is  ‘nothing so concentrated as a convert’ and it made me realise I do feel a little embarrassed by my new affiliation.  Am I giving something up? How is it possible to be a woman who likes football which in the end is still just two lots of boys chasing a ball up and down a field? Backed up by lots of money and camouflaging a hidden world of dirty deals and corruption.

But of course I have conflicting feelings about it.

While we are watching the football – what are we not doing?

Some other friends studiously ignore all my comments about the game and my interest in it. They politely tilt their heads and smile and change the subject as if there is a bad smell in the room.
For now though, while continuing to check myself for signs of madness,  I’m going to carry on supporting ‘that terrible football club‘

El Cant De Barça

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

So here I am in Cornwall waiting to watch Barça play Manchester United in the final of the Champions.
Guess who I am supporting?  Well, I am Scottish so it was never a hard choice!
To get ready I am listening to the Barça anthem – here it is.
I will watch with a friend who is a Chelsea fan so he too is supporting Barça.
The fire is lit
The curry is arriving
Here we go – BARÇA!!!  Good luck.

In Catalan
Tot el camp
és un clam
som la gent blaugrana
Tant se val d’on venim
si del sud o del nord
ara estem d’acord, ara estem d’acord,
una bandera ens agermana.
Blaugrana al vent
un crit valent
tenim un nom el sap tothom:
Barça, Barça, Baaarça!
Jugadors, seguidors,
tots units fem força.
Son molt anys plens d’afanys,
son molts gols que hem cridat
i s’ha demostrat, i s’ha demostrat,
que mai ningu no ens podrà torcer.
Blaugrana al vent
un crit valent
tenim un nom el sap tothom:
Barça, Barça, Baaarça!
In English
The whole stadium
loudly cheers
We’re the blue and claret supporters
It matters not where we hail from
Whether it’s the south or the north
Now we all agree, we all agree,
One flag unites us in brotherhood.
Blue and claret blowing in the wind
One valiant cry
We’ve got a name that everyone knows:
Barça, Barça, Baaarça!
Players, Supporters
United we are strong.
We’ve achieved much over the years,
We’ve shouted many goals
And we have shown, we have shown,
That no one can ever break us.
Blue and claret blowing in the wind
One valiant cry
We’ve got a name that everyone knows:
Barça, Barça, Baaarça!

What is happening in Plaça Catalunya?

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

I continue to wait for the BBC to report what is happening in Barcelona. But of course the football match is sooo important! I will watch that too but really – who makes the decision not to show pictures of what happened yesterday when police arrived to ‘clean up’ the square.
Here are two videos. Thank god for mobile phones and the internet.
Full combat gear and helmets,……… batons and rubber bullets against people in tee shirts and summer clothes.
There are two different ones – click above.
So strange to be here in Cornwall with all this going on at home.
Now I really do understand what Twitter is for!

…….Five minutes later…..

Finalment!!!  BBC news on the internet

Virtual Vermut

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

Welcome to Virtual Vermut – a time to relax and have a drink and a chat. At least I will be chatting and I hope you will join in but I won’t know what you’re saying unless you write in and tell me!

Tonight I am actually going to have a whisky – it’s a bit chilly here for a vermut and ice. Here is Blue guarding the bottle in front of the fire.
If I was sitting here with you I’d probably find it hard to get started. Lots has been going on this week and especially inside my head but I can’t put it into order. I wonder if this is a common experience for people who have moved to another country when they go back ‘home’?
Here is my ‘office’ the only place I can get onto the internet as my neighbour kindly lets me use hers when I am here.

The picture at the top of the stairs is too small. This one would be better…………………

Karen Wade painting
I saw it in an exhibition in Penzance. It’s by Karen Wade and she has her first solo exhibition in the Stoneman Gallery. I was reading Cornwall Today in the dentists waiting room and when I saw photos of these paintings and knew I must go and see them in real life. Only just resisted buying one – now is not the time for splashing out.
My head has been buzzing with plans. I want to move  properly to Catalunya and this means I need to bring my dogs over, including 15 year old Blue. Before that happens I need to sort out my house and that could take a few months – you can’t tie up a life and home in just two weeks…..or I can’t.

While thinking, I have been getting out and about. The weather has been good so I went with a friend to see Surfing Tommies at the Minack theatre. Outside the ticket office there was a forest of echium

That night it was windy and wild with rain showers thankfully only lasting a few minutes. I enjoyed the performance but hit my boredom level at least half an hour before it finished.
But the place is so beautiful it’s easy to forgive almost anything

Bonnie likes to go walking and doesn’t get out so much now so I took her along the coastal path from Mousehole. For once she didn’t bark at the horses and they were too curious to be afraid of dogs

I’m not usually lost for words and really I wonder if you’d be better going to see Bodhi Chicklet straight away to see if she has any vermut or perhaps something stronger.  I am boring myself. All I think about is lists of things to do and  in what order to do them.
This visit I have spoken to two other friends who also have left to make lives in different countries. It’s not just me who finds it hard to get the right balance. Friendships are disrupted, people get miffed, if you have a home you come back to lots of tiddly but awkward maintenance jobs, a mound of mail with nasty surprises and not enough time to sort it all out. You need delicacy and tact when talking about your new life. Too much enthusiasm sounds like you are critisising the old; too much complaining sounds like you’re not grateful. Emotionally it is tiring – everything familiar but also strange. You are here but you are absent.  People want to see you but sometimes, because they miss you, they behave strangely.
Sometimes animals are easier. Cats are especially relaxing.  Dandelion – the best cat in the world.

Apart from all this I’d like to tell you that I have been thinking about my other home and about what is happening in Plaça Catalunya and feeling sad that these peaceful and creative protests almost always end up being violently disrupted. What is this force in the world that needs to be in control and is willing to hurt others in the process? Nothing on the TV news but plenty on the internet.
I’m wondering how my Catalan is doing, buried deep under a thick layer of English now. Hope it is just gathering strength for next week and will emerge stronger and more fluent.
And lastly – tomorrow – I will be watching the football. I wish I could be over there but at least I’ll be able to understand the commentary. Good luck Barça!
See you next week and thank you for listening.