The Bicycle Giver

[NOTE: This post has been in my drafts tab for months. I no longer know how many or why I didn't publish it at the time. It has been left as is, aside from some little notes where appropriate. SPOILER: This post has nothing to do with bicycles or thieves of aforementioned non-existent bicycles]

I rarely have free time these days, what with shift work and important personal commitments. Though it's far from ideal, I generally don't mind. It's just life and I do enjoy mine when I can.

Glasgow diary 2014: Paradise found (again)

We took our last Subway trip of the day back to St. Enoch’s station and took a 66 bus from the city to Parkhead. Celtic’s stadium felt far more welcoming to us than Ibrox had. I’m not sure which factor contributed to this more: a psychological predisposition caused by years of preconditioning/fandom or the hundreds of Irish tricolours dotted around the stadium (with hundreds more draping the stands inside).

Glasgow diary 2014: Firhill - the stadium you won't see unless you're looking for it.

Following Jon’s instructions, we made our way back to the Ibrox subway station and headed for St. George’s Cross in Glasgow’s West End. A twenty minute slog along Maryhill Road awaited us. 

Glasgow diary 2014: Ibrox - football stadium or office block?

The most ironic thing about us visiting Ibrox is that the stadium, in its current guise, was modelled on Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion (not something I knew before writing this piece, I admit). 

Glasgow diary 2014: Introduction.

Last weekend, myself and Anto Gallagher continued our tradition of taking in one random game abroad a year by visiting Glasgow to see Celtic face Inverness in the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). Our early flight meant a 4a.m. start, but this put us in Glasgow city centre at eight, giving us ample time to decide what we should do with our solitary full day in Scotland’s largest city.

The Belgian footballing mini-pilgrimage, April 2013

On April Fool's Day 2013, I jetted* out to Belgium to visit a friend who is currently living in the city of Leuven. Anthony Gallagher and I are long time acolytes of the game and will watch a match anywhere we can whenever we can - and his current Erasmus placement afforded us an opportunity to add to our last experience of European football.

Teaandtoast.ie: Portmarnock riots: all for one bus

“Up rolls the riot van and sparks excitement in the boys…”

De Klassieker: January 29th, 2012 - an excerpt from my Rotterdam journal

“De Kuip is Feyenoord and Feyenoord is De Kuip. So it was and so it always will be.”[1]