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Money Saving Tip
I had been planning to have a haircut until this excellent article revealed how much I could save by asking to have my head shaved instead. |
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At least those of us unfortunate enough to live in England can still watch Saturday's game on TV (Sky Sports 1 starting from 14:00). Some of Scotland's recent games have not been available in England, which has been very frustrating. What is this proliferation of digital channels for, if not to give us a chance to see world class sportsmen in action?
My frustration reached a crescendo for the Lithuania game at the start of April. Scotland had started to show the faintest glimmer of a pulse after beating Iceland twice - and victory against Lithuania would have sealed our place at the top of group 5. But the game was on BBC1 Scotland and not being shown in England. I checked the schedules on Channel 5, Sky Sports and Eurosport, all of which have been known to show the occasional Scotland game. But no such luck. I was left hoping for a major news event in Iraq so compelling that BBC1 would switch to a special news broadcast. The football would then be moved to BBC2 Scotland, which you can pick up in England via Sky Digital.
But I realised I couldn't rely on Saddam's co-operation. So on the way to work I resorted to sending a text message to the Five Live Breakfast programme asking Nicky Campbell where I could watch the Scotland game in England. Once the voice in his ear had explained to Nicky that the message was asking about a football match in a place called Glasgow, I must admit he did try to help but somehow it all went wrong...
Nicky: My colleagues in the studio think the game must be on Sky Sports
Me (shouting at radio): I've already tried that.
Nicky: Oh wait, the engineer says you can pick up BBC Scotland via Sky Digital.
Me: Yes but only BBC2, and I've given up hope of Saddam supplying the compelling news event.
Long pause while the 5 live team repeat the same old news stories and I smash my head against the steering wheel
Nicky: Well listeners thanks for texting in to help Colin see tonight's Scotland game.
Me (swerving with excitement): Result!
Nicky: The first suggestion is The Fantasy Channel.
Me: Groan
Nicky: And the other one, The Disney Channel. As in disnae play football.
Me (steering wheel cracking under pressure): What sort of deranged idiots listen to this show?
Finally just as the programme was ending, Nicky hurried a final message to me - Colin, you can listen to the game on BBC Radio Scotland which is broadcast in England via Sky Digital. Well to be honest I had already thought of this as a last resort, but I was grateful anyway.
So, that evening I tuned in to Radio Scotland on channel 866 with a beer (sorry, not Tennents lager as that's not available in England but that's a story for another day). I was hopefuI of a good result and settled down to enjoy the commentary, even if I couldn't see what was going on. It was at kick-off time when Radio Scotland introduced a big band jazz special that I finally realised this was not to be my day.
8:14:11 PM 
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