I’ve worked at Pittodrie before so know the script. There’s a wireless network there, so I’m able to work off the laptop to fulfil the copy requirements of:

120-150 words before the kickoff
Another 120-150 midway through the first half
up to 200 at half-time, to include a brief summary as an intro
Another 120-150 midway through the second half
Up to 200 again at the full-time whistle
A 600 word consolidated report ASAP after full-time

It sounds a lot of work, but it’s managable, and the requirement to send updates through piecemeal makes it easier to concentrate on the writing.

I arrived in plenty of time, before the team-sheets were even out, so was well ahead of schedule, whipped out the laptop and wrote the first piece of copy. I hadn’t been able to connect to the internet through the wi-fi connection but figured that as I was ahead of the game I’d have time to resolve any issues.

I’d had problems with the internet flaking out the last time I’d been at the Dungheap, but refreshing the browser had seen the connection come back, so I thought this may be the case. Unfortunately not.

By now, I was under pressure and decided to retype what I already had into the iphone, and email it through that. time-consuming, but eventually I got it through. The alternative would be to phone through the copy, which takes forever and isn’t really feasible in the noisy environment of a football stadium, even though it was less than a third full.

Still unable to connect to the wifi, and having also tried a BT Openzone hotspot I was detecting from somewhere, I realised I was going to have to repeat the process for all my copy throughout the game.

I don’t have a word processing app, so continued to type everything up on the laptop in order to use that functionality, but as I was going along I was also typing everything into emails on the phone and, once sent, copied the text into Notes so it’d be there for the full-time copy.

As it turned out, this worked well and allowed me to put through all the copy, bar the first piece which was slightly delayed, in a timely manner and meet all the deadlines.

The phone also acted as my stopwatch as it normally does when I’m working at games, and also the voice recorder for post-match quotes, so essentially an all-in-one productivity device for football reporting.

It’s not perfect, but as a backup solution it certainly did what was required, and with a bit of research and fine tuning, I’m sure it would be possible to find a suitable word processing app with word count feature.

The only failing as far as I could find, was that the voice recorder and notes apps, even with multitasking, are unable to run side by side, so it would be unsuitable for typing up a quotes piece without a second device of some form.

That said, I’m off to buy a mobile broadband dongle as a backup…

Clearly, though, they have picked up on the perfect term for the dirty reds from the wrong side of Manchester, as evidenced by their headline about Rooney’s seemingly imminent departure from the crusty claws of Sir Awex:

Aberdeen came back from 4-2 down to draw with Celtic and their incredibly rubbish defence yesterday, and THIS was the outcome for one of the Greatest Fans In The World™

What a fool.

Fortunately the illness also came after the London trip… which was now so long agao I can barely remember the highlights. Hmm, let’s see…

On arrival at the super-shiny and super-huge T5, we cleverly bought four tickets for the Heathrow Express. Only to be presented with this when after the third had printed:

Technology fail. After seeking human intervention we were swiftly sorted out and able to continue on our merry way to our cheap hotel 5 minutes from Paddington Station. Handy, and also very cheap. Did the job though!

Nothing much exciting happened on the Friday night, so I’ll skip on to Saturday. When not much happened.

Dave joined our merry crew before we split into two groups – Edd, Dave and myself doing the cool stuff while Gary and his sister Gemma proceeded to get lost lots having no clue how London works. The cool stuff wasn’t particularly cool at all, to be fair. A quick trip down Carnaby Street, a wee wander round some of the touristy stuff, the highlight being walking into Hamleys. I was wearing my ultra-cool Dangermouse t-shirt, and was welcomed by the dude on the door with a cheery “‘ello Dangermouse, good to have you with us!”. Mega.

Ooh, ooh! We also managed to stumble upon the Dons pub, the Rob Roy, purely by chance thanks to my navigational skills. Win. I was, though, disappointed to find it dead both times we were in. Even at 10pm on a Saturday night. Boo.

What else happened? Not a whole lot. Sunday saw us head back towards central Lahndahn Town to partake in some food/shopping antics, and for me to Geek out over the musical heritage. Yes, I do have a photo of Wardour Street made famous by The Jam’s “A-Bomb on Wardour Street”. A photo of the street from the What’s The Story album cover was also taken. Oh yes.

Then there was the gig. That Wembley’s a bit impressive is it not?! We timed it perfectly to see Kasabian who were excellent. Oasis were… Oasis. I’ve seen them 13 times now so there were no surprises. It was certainly better than the Murrayfield shambles though. Getting back to Paddington was easier than anticipated as well. Bonus.

So, that was London. Then followed a few days of work before three weeks of bed. Not particularly nice, though I’d recommend it to anyone who needs to lose some weight.

Thankfully, I recovered in time to go on a three-day course, which I passed, and then have another busy weekend. One of the few football matches I’ve made it to away to Alloa, followed by comedy in Glasgow and thrills ‘n’ spills at Knockhill. Yay!

The football was poor, but the meal and comedy at Jongleurs were of acceptable standard. Dave also enjoyed, but his girlfriend, Gemma (not Gary’s sister!), didn’t seem too impressed. Too many wanking jokes I think. Stayed at their place on the Saturday night, then Dave and myself headed through to Knockhill where we were impressed to see local boy Gordon Shedden come second in the first BTCC race. Mon the Scots.

Keeping the theme going, Aberdeen’s very own Glynn Geddie manged to win his class and finish second overall in the Porsche Carrera Cup race that followed. Sadly the later races weren’t so successful with Sheds and another local boy, Jonny Adam, having various issues. Jonny’s fire extinguisher randomly deciding to cover him in foam was quite amusing though, even if it did put him out of race three.

More recently, on Saturday night no less, I went to the theatre. Yes! A theatre! I’m officially cultured! Edd and I made a late decision to see Quadrophenia, and despite being sat way up in “Ye Gads!” it was found to be thoroughly enjoyable. The band were rather good too, although the bass solo in My Generation completely failed to impress me. I’m just picky, though.

Hmm, this was a bit longer than intended, but I think that’s all the excitement for the moment. Apart from the motor, but we’ve already covered that. I’m currently trying to come up with a name for it. Ritchie is the best (read: only) suggestion so far, but I’m not keen.

Another busy weekend looms. No football for me, as I’m off to New Deer for the Wizard Festival, where I’ll see my good friends Proud Mary. Nice one.

Indeed, given the Confederations Cup and European U21 Championships have been on this summer, you and I, the general public, have done without for a whole fortnight.

I’m the first to admit that for far too long I’ve allowed football to dominate but even I’m starting to grow wearisome of wall-to-wall football, televised or otherwise.

Admittedly, I’ve not made the best use of the summer break – I managed Rock Ness, and the following midweek travelled down to Edinburgh to see Oasis, but my spare time has mostly been wasted. That in itself isn’t a bad thing.

During the season I can easily see myself getting up at 7.30 in the morning to travel to an away game, and not return home until after 9 or even 10 at night, so the option of doing nothing is very welcome.

It’s not even that it’s a Saturday wasted. Getting up so early means my Friday night can be a washout, and I’m often home too late to bother about doing anything on the Saturday either.

My attitude is starting to alter in this regard though: I’m off down to London next weekend, and in August I’m planning at least a weekend in Fife for the BTCC at Knockhill, and one or both of Wizard or Belladrum. Whether I do two or all three, I’m going to be missing matches, and that represents a massive change.

It really is just becoming far too much to fit in football for 45 weeks of the year while retaining other interests and trying to have an active social life. Oh, and a full-time job of course. The time’s come to allow those other interests a chance to take hold, and allow myself some semblance of a “normal” life.

For those that don’t know, I do a bit of journalism on the side, so it may be that I continue to go to Peterhead’s home matches and make myself available for Highland League games (or even games down in Angus and Tayside for a change of scenery) to give myself a bit more freedom at weekends.

We’ll see how I feel once the action begins, I guess.