Barca!

Last weekend I surprised the boys with a trip to Barcelona to see them play Real Mallorca. They’d been on at me for ages about going to an away game and as luck would have it both their games fitted around the Barca fixture. My eldest Jude played Saturday morning winning 9-1 and on the way home I said to the boys that we were going out in the afternoon to watch another game. I got the usual why? What’s the point? But after crow barring them off the Play Station and into the shower off we went. They only really caught on when we turned onto the airport road and met the company picking up our car. They of course were really excited not just going to watch the game but suddenly realising we were also going to our favourite tapas bar Cervecería Catalana.

On arrival at the airport we checked into the hotel, picked up our tickets, dumped our bag and off we went. The tapas didn’t disappoint and off we went to the ground. I’d managed to get good seats through a friend(thank you Kieran) which meant we were on the lower tier behind the goal. All was good until I saw the line-ups and saw the Barcelona team and particularly the 3 midfielders and 3 attackers.

Rakitic, Busquets, De Jong.

Messi, Suarez, Griezmann.

We are going to struggle to keep up with them was my immediate thought and so it proved. We were behind the goal as they tore our defence apart. They move the ball around so quickly and no player touches the ball more than twice. Messi is on a different planet and in the week that he won the Balón D’or and questions were asked why Van Dijk didn’t. You couldn’t fault him. They eased off in the second half but you thought that if they needed to score another goal they would. We managed to draw the second half 1-1 partly because they relaxed but also because Manolo Reina in goal had a worldly.

5-2 was a gubbing but after all this was Barcelona in the Nou Camp and maybe we had to remember that just 2 years ago we were playing Badalona.

Still no win away since April and this Sunday they’re away again at Celta Vigo, the team just below them in the League. Win and they open up a 4 point gap, draw and they keep the gap at 1 point, lose and they drop into the relegation places. Not where you want to be just before Christmas and nearly halfway through the season. Their last home game of 2019 will be on Saturday December 21st at 13.00 against Sevilla.

It was a great trip that we did in 15 hours as Jake had a game on Sunday morning which he won 4-1. Busy Saturday for Dad Taxi this week as one kicks off at 10.00 and the other at 12.15.

Last week at the gym(yes I’m still going!) I saw an advert for Old Spice not realising you can still buy it. Apparently you can here in Carrefour and in the UK in Tesco and Sainsburys. So on the radio we asked our listeners to let us know about their old skool aftershave or perfume memories and whether they still existed or not. As always they didn’t disappoint.

Aftershave memories were, Hai Karate, Brut, Blue Stratos, Kouros, Denim and Aramis.

Perfume memories were, Tweed, Rive Gauche, Panache, Dolce Vita and Lily of The Valley.

I wonder if any of you will get one of these this Christmas?

I’ve found a few interesting Top 10’s this week.

Taylor Swift has topped Forbes‘ annual countdown of the world’s highest-paid musicians.

The singer made $185m (£148m) in pre-tax earnings from June 2018 to June 2019. The bulk of her earnings came thanks to a new record deal, an array of endorsements and the tail end of her recent ‘Reputation’ stadium tour, which is adjudged to be the highest-grossing tour in US history.

Forbes Top 10 Highest Paid Musicians 2019

1. Taylor Swift – $185 million

2. Kanye West – $150 million

3. Ed Sheeran – $110 million

4. The Eagles – $100 million

5. Elton John – $84 million

6. Jay-Z – $81 million (tie)

6. Beyoncé – $81 million (tie)

8. Drake – $75 million

9. Diddy – $70 million

10. Metallica – $68.5 million

The top 10 most watched TV of the decade has been revealed with sport dominating the list.

The most searched terms on Google in the UK in 2019 were.

1. How to watch Champions League final?

2. How to watch Game of Thrones?

3. How to floss dance?

4. How to pronounce Psalm?

5. How to watch KSI vs Logan?

6. How to vote in European elections

7. How to eat pineapple?

8. How to register to vote?

9. How to tame a fox in Minecraft?

10. How to watch Chernobyl?

Some people do ask the strangest of things!

Ed Sheeran has been named Britain’s No 1 artist of the decade.

His ‘Official Chart Record Breaker’ award is for the most No 1 hits (12 in total) on the singles and albums charts from 2010 to 2019 and the most weeks at No 1 (79, which adds up to more than a year and a half at the top).

Sheeran’s hit Shape of You was named biggest song of the decade after spending 14 weeks at No 1 in 2017 with more than 4.5million sales, and two more of his songs – Thinking Out Loud and Perfect – are in the decade’s top five.

Sheeran said ‘Thank you to everyone who supported me over the past ten years, especially my amazing fans. Here’s to the next ten.’ I remember seeing him when he first started here on the island at Mallorca Rocks in 2012.

Enjoy your weekend!

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com