2017 - a pretty INCREDIBLE year

All in all, 2017 has been a pretty INCREDIBLE year here.

I’m sat writing this retrospective post a few days before NYE in a place that quite frankly I never thought I’d be sitting in a year ago: my office and pretty much second home: the BBC newsroom.

2017’s been an interesting year: I graduated with a solid master’s degree that my heart wasn’t really in.

I can’t tell you how glad I was to be done with the world of education after 17 years of school and university. In the end, my passion for academia went from being a labour of love to something of a chore I wasn’t inspired by. Nonetheless, that chapter of my life is now well and truly closed (at least for the time being). But it feels great to say: I DID IT!

As one door closes, another opens… Or so the saying goes. That has most definitely been very true in my case.

In October, I started my dream job as a journalist on the online international desk at BBC News. I must admit: I have to pinch myself every day as I walk into the newsroom as it still doesn’t feel quite real.

So far, I’ve worked on dozens of stories, written a few features, and covered a fair few live events - from snow in the UK to the Catalan elections the week before Christmas.

I’m not going to pretend that it hasn’t at times been a learning curve, but I’m LOVING every second.

I moved into my own parcel of London at the end of November – sure, it wasn’t easy to find somewhere that was accessible and suitable, but I finally feel that my new flat is becoming a wee home.

I’m loving every second of London life: the opportunities, the food, the coffee (of course), and the wonderful people I’ve met.

It feels like every year that I write this, but: I wouldn’t be able to be the person I am without the support of my wonderful folks, Bo and Rob.

THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for never letting me give up – even when that means forcing me to get on a plane to Barcelona when I wasn’t feeling it - and encouraging me to be the best version of myself every single day.

Well, here’s to 2018 and, if it follows on from how 2017 has ended, it should be set to be a good one.

PEACE OUT!

Like Corbyn, I've struggled with veganism

Thanks to Jeremy Corbyn for talking openly about his struggle to convert from vegetarianism to veganism.

Now, many of you may not know this, but I've been vegetarian for the last eight-and-a -bit years. When I first became vegetarian it was often a struggle to get vegetarian food in restaurants and it took some time for Mrs P to get her head around; thankfully, it's become much easier to eat out as a veggie and my mother is now one of the best cooks I know (of veggie and non-veggie food alike).

Like Jeremy Corbyn, the question of whether or not to become vegan is something I've been debating for the last few months. My problem: I love cheese and yoghurt too much (yes, tbey are also my main barrier to weight-loss).

I've been trying to eat more dairy-free meals without animal products over the last few months (think: burritos minus cheese and sour cream - yup, I'm such a millennial), but it's been tough at times and I need time to test myself without animal products for health reasons (relating to my CP).

Dear vegan friends, at your convincing, I'll probably try and go full vegan when I move down to London, but, for now, I think the best option is that I stick to my present flexi-veganism (CHEESE is my weakness): we all should try and eat less meat, fish, and dairy in our food and drink in order to help the planet, but it will take some adjustment. Food waste is something we really need to be talking about too, as far too much food just gets thrown away.

We are all human; it's okay to slip up and not be perfect sometimes.

A busy few weeks...

First up, I'd like to apologise for not updating this blog as much as one would have liked to have done so over the last few weeks. It's been a really busy April so far with exciting experiences, new opportunities, and rather a lot of travelling.

So, just what have I been up to then? 

Well, I've been back in the UK quite a bit, travelling up and down the country to visit family. Also, I've had quite a few shifts at Sky Sports in London on the logging desk, working on the Premier League, Championship, MLS, and La Liga, all of which I've really enjoyed.

Additionally, I've started to host my own podcast for World Football Index on the English Premier League called WFI EPL Weekly. I'm really enjoying this so far and I've tried to make all my pods so far shorter and more accessible to a general listener. The guys at WFI are great to work with (hat-tip to my producer, Dave) and we've had some great pods so far, including this FA Cup semi-final preview and one with The Esk on the future on Everton (a must listen for any fan of the toffees). If you've got any Premier League-themed podcast ideas, I'd love to hear them so drop me a line.

EA WorldView's social media growth has been occupying a significant amount of my time too, particularly growing the Facebook presence, as we're now well-established on Twitter. We're 100 short of 3k on Twitter and almost at 500 likes on Facebook. Please follow us and if you've got any suggestions for how to grow a news publication on social media, let me know them.

It's weird how when I was planning to move to Barcelona this time last year, I figured that 1) I'd end up in the academic world and 2) I'd be in Barcelona for at least a few years. One has also been applying for work for next year over the last few weeks and neither of the above seems likely now as my priorities have changed: the work I've been applying for is in the media (check out my video application for the BBC) and it's my intention to move back to the UK, probably to London and maybe Manchester, for the medium to long-term now.

Oh, and there's going to be a General Election in six weeks... If anyone is running a campaign that I can help out on with comms or other stuff, I'm more than willing to help out when I'm back.

After Trump's strike, more action is needed in Syria

Some of you may know that for the last 9 months, I've been working for my old professor from the University of Birmingham, Scott Lucas, on the social and digital media for his news and analysis website, EA Worldview.

Pretty much every day, I've woken up to and had to inform our followers of horrific pictures and stories from Syria of atrocities mainly caused by the Assad regime and its main backer, Vladimir Putin's Russia.

All too often, the response to these atrocities has been radio silence from the United Nations and, at best, strong words of condemnation from the United States, but little more. Thus, I support the harder line towards Assad's genocide that has been adopted in recent days by the Trump Administration.

Although one never wants to see deaths caused by conflict, I for one, think is about time that the international community took action against the barbarism of the Assad regime. Harsh words have been unable to deescalate this civil war; thus, stronger action is required.

My hope is that continued action from the United States and her NATO allies against those who are committing atrocities in Syria (be they government forces, extremist rebel groups or Islamic State) can bring all parties to the table for meaningful negotiations and a peaceful long-term solution to the conflict in Syria.

5 Catalan TV series you should check out

One of my favourite ways of learning foreign languages is to immerse myself in the media that is produced in that language. When I was learning Catalan, I really enjoyed listening to podcasts, reading newspapers, and watching television in this wonderful language, so I thought I'd compile a list of my five of my favourite Catalan TV shows and tell you a little bit about each one.

Temps de silenci (2001-2005, TV3)

Temps de silenci focuses on the life of a wealthy Barcelona family, the Dalmau family, from shortly before the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) until the end of the last century. The series tells the stories of the Dalmau, Comes, Hernández families and frames them through the social, cultural, and political events of the epoch.

I started watching it as a way of revising for my Catalan finals at Birmingham last year and it taught me so much, not just about the Catalan language, but also about 20th-century Catalan history too.

The story follows the personal journey of the narrator, Isabel Dalmau, a young upper-class Catalan, and her working-class love interest, Ramon Comes. It is something of an impossible love because of the prevalent class differences and this serves as a thematic construction throughout the series, intertwining this narrative with the history of Catalonia from 1935 to the turn of the millennium.

In an easy-to-understand manner, it deals with events such as the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, daily life and repression in Catalonia during the Franco regime, the restoration of democracy, the 23-F coup, changing attitudes of the role of women in Catalan society, and the 1992 Olympics.

It was the first period series about 20th-century on Spanish television and its considerable success kicked off a trend that led to other period dramas, such as Cuéntame cómo pasó (Tell me how it happened - a series following the Alcántra family in the later years of the Franco dictatorship and the early years of the transition to democracy) and Amar en tiempos revueltos (To love in times of revolt - set in the times of the Spanish civil war and the early Francoism), being commissioned by the Spanish state broadcaster, TVE.

Merlí (2015-present, TV3)

When I was back visiting friends in Barcelona in December 2015, everybody was talking about this fantastic series that was being aired on the Catalan broadcaster, TV3, at the time. It features an A-level philosophy teacher, Merlí Bergeron, who stimulates his students to think freely through unorthodox teaching methods that divide his students, their families and his colleagues.

Merlí is clearly influenced by films like the Dead Poets Society and there is a conscious effort to bring a basic understanding of philosophy to the audience in an accessible way. Each episode features the approaches of some great thinker or school, such as the Peripatetics, Nietzsche or Schopenhauer, and these link with the events of the characters during that episode.

I've really enjoyed the two series of Merlí so far (a third is rumoured to be coming soon) and it has made me somewhat nostalgic for the passion and excitement of my own sixth form days.

Cites (2015-present, TV3)

Cites (Dates) is inspired by the 2013 British series Dates (created by Brian Elsley - which I still haven't seen).

It mixes romantic comedy and drama focussing on a number of first dates of people who have met via a Tinder-like app. Up to 24 actors are featured in the dates, which often leads to sexual or romantic relationships (unlike my own haha).

From the point that the two people meet (often in a bar or a restaurant), the characters aim to carry out their intentions while undergoing awkward and/or romantic moments (much like me on a date).

The dates are all set in Barcelona (there are very few series in Catalan that are focussed in Catalonia's other cities, it seems) and people of different ages, sexual orientations, and marital statuses are involved.

Nit i Dia (2016-present, TV3)

Nit i dia is a thriller that revolves around the daily lives of police, forensic doctors, and judges who must solve crimes and murders and deal with the darker side of reality.

Nit i dia chronicles the daily life of a coroner and the conflict between her desire to lead a normal life and daily contact with the harsh reality. The series begins on the day that a coroner Sara Grau, who is married to a senior executive of a multinational company, starts IVF treatment; that day, in an autopsy, recognises an unidentified corpse of a stranger with whom she had a brief affair and, from that point on, a chain of events occurs that disrupts the life of the protagonist and all those around her.

It also features wonderfully nuanced characters such as an elderly judge caught between two women, a psychiatrist traumatised by their past, two-faced executives or criminals who cannot stop themselves from reoffending.

In many ways, it is similar to the BBC series Silent Witness, however rather than just focussing on the forensic doctors (as Silent Witness does very well), it is also a portrait of contemporary Barcelona, with its lights and its shadows.

Ventdelplà (2005-2010, TV3)

Ventdelplà tells the (fictional) story of how a woman from Barcelona, a former doctor no less, attempts to rebuild her life in a small, rural Catalan village in the province of Girona after fleeing with her two children from physical and emotional abuse from her lawyer husband. 

Despite the dramatic nature of the start of the series, Ventdelplà dramatises the dramas, love stories and issues that exist in the lives of the inhabitants of rural Catalan villages.

I must admit: I'm only 50 episodes into Ventdelplà (there are 330 episodes) and it is the only one of the series in this article that I haven't finished, So far, it's featured a woman liberated from an abusive marriage, conflict between rural and urban lifestyles, a character dying from terminal illness and its effects on her teenage son, and the difficulties that a young protagonist must endure after becoming paralysed in a car crash.

The fact that it is set in a rural Girona town is something that is really refreshing considering that the vast majority of Catalan-language dramas take place with Barcelona and its confines. In fact, most of the scenes in this series were shot in the small town of Breda, in the la Selva region.

#WhereToGoInBarcelona - Black Remedy

Black Remedy are the new kids on the block. Owned by the Ascaso family, who also own the fantastic Compak Grinders), they opened in November last year in the heart of Barcelona's touristic yet trendy Ciutat Vella neighbourhood.

It's a slightly bigger space than many of Barcelona's other specialty coffee locations with workbenches for getting work done, proper tables to eat breakfast, brunch, or lunch at, and lower-level tables that are perfect for sipping a flat white on.

Serving great coffee and delectable food, Black Remedy have become something of a hipster mecca already, serving great beans from a variety of roasters including Tusell Tostadores (house roaster for espresso), Hidden Cafè BCN, Valladolid's Puchero Coffee, and Barcelona's Right Side Coffee.

Ideally situated in the Barri Gòtic, just behind the Plaça Sant Jaume and next to the Ajuntament (town hall), Black Remedy (C/ Ciutat, 5) has amazing food and that was (mainly) why I tend to go there with friends (it's a bit out of my way as I'm based in the north-west of the city and BR is in the south-east).

Usually, I have the delectable roasted vegetable and feta cheese salad (their veggie/vegan seta burger is ace too), whilst for meat-eaters, the pulled pork sandwich is highly-rated. If you're in the mood for a guilty pleasure, I'd check out their New York Cheesecake (yummm).

BR is extremely accessible with a flat entrance and several level tables - surprisingly rare in Barcelona's specialty coffee shops - although there's a slight step up to the toilet. The ambience there is fantastic and the staff are incredibly friendly too.

Keeping fit as a wheelchair user - 5 things I've learnt

You know what? There's still quite a few people who look surprised when I say that, as a wheelchair user, I go to the gym.

Sure, I may not always get it right first time and my exercises might not be picture-perfect, but I've always found a way to adapt my fitness regime so that I can get the ability out of my disability.

Here are five things I've noted about going to the gym as a disabled person.

Yes, I need a bit of help... Don't we all?

At the gym, I usually am accompanied by a glamorous assistant who helps me get on and off the machines, pass me any weights I can't pick up easily, set up any machines that I can't sort you myself, and remind me when I've lifted 50 reps on one set and I think I've only done twenty (seriously, when I get into beast mode, I'm unstoppable haha).

Thinking about it, in many ways, having a gym buddy isn't that different to how many able-bodied people exercise: I'd highly recommend it as having someone to go to the gym with can keep you motivated and you can teach each other techniques.

Seriously though, going to the gym would be difficult for me if it wasn't for the guys who assist and motivate me: thanks to my old man Rob, Jase, and Kev for their assistance (and patience) over the years.

Just ignore the people gawping at you as you get on the off the machines.

Yeah, this is something that happens to me all the time, especially as my balance can be a bit skew-whiff when I try to stand up.

When I get on and off the machines (especially the treadmill and stepper), people often stare at me in some weird amazement that a disabled person can use a given machine and lift that level of weight. I'm fine with that and I sometimes jokingly stare back at them.

Yeah, there were a lot of people staring at me that day

People at my home gyms of the Village Wirral and the Underground Training Centre on the paradise peninsula (as well as the Esports UB in Barcelona) are used to my weird and wonderful ways, but it can be particularly interesting to watch people get nervous and start staring at me if I'm travelling and decide to go to a new gym.

If it doesn't work the first time, try again!

I've lost count of the amount of times I've been trying out a new exercise and I've had a dreadful first set because my legs have flown out halfway through, my posture has been dodgy, my range of movement not good enough, or I've misjudged the technique required completely.

This has happened far too many times to mention, but I've always gone back to these exercises to try again and many of movements I've struggled with first time have gone on to become favourites of mine after technique coaching or adaptations.

I love doing abdominal crunches now, but when I first started, they were really difficult to get right.

If there's a machine or exercise you struggled with during your recent workout, try it out again and ask someone to observe your technique as you do it, as this may provide the reason as to why you're struggling with it.

Adapt, adapt, adapt the workout to suit your needs

Sure, there are exercises and machines that you seemingly can't do (the cross-trainer and bike are two that I cannot pull off), however, I've found that seemingly impossible exercises can be adapted to suit the wheelchair user.

You've just got to be creative in adapting the gym to one's needs when you get in there and approach every new challenge positively.

A creative gym session at the Underground Training Station, Raby Mere (South Wirral)

To illustrate this, I've recently started training at a new gym, the South Wirral Underground Training Station, with Kev. This is a place that holds weight-lifting competitions and has none of the usual machines that I'd come to associate with my usual gym sessions (it proudly claims that "The place where the only machines in the gym... are the people who train there!!" on its Instagram page).

Action shot: pulling 35kg across the gym

Ergo, it was necessary to adapt my usual, machine-heavy gym session to something entirely different (Kev was incredible at helping me make the transition); the first session was a bit weird, but needless to say, resistance bands, punchbags, and ropes that I can use to pull 35kg across the gym have become my new weapons of choice.

Never ever give up!

Going to the gym isn't for everyone nor can everyone do intensive exercise and that's something society needs to come to accept and embrace. But, for those with a disability who can or want to exercise, society's ignorance and the barriers that ableist structures put in our place should be smashed through.

Sure thing, it can be incredibly annoying to have the eyes of ten people on you as you lift or transfer from an exercise to your chair, but those people will come to accept your weird and wonderful ways of lifting and treat you as normally as they do everyone else. It's great that more and more gyms are becoming accessible and adapting their mindsets for disabled users.

If you're a person with a disability (and your physician has said that it's okay), go and give your local fitness centre a go. Never, ever give up and, take the world by storm, and go and smash society's expectations.