I spend most of my time in Catalonia nowadays. I come from Scotland. The Romans called it Caledonia. Somewhere in between the two is Catadonia. It is a place of refuge where clocks and schedules don’t exist. When travelling through Catadonia I recall past events or examine the issues of the day. Catadonia is a free country. There are neither border controls nor requests for credit cards when you enter.

Garry O’Connor will soon become the first Edinburgher to star in Moscow since Sean Connery appeared in The Russia House. The 22 year old forward has left Hibernian to join Lokomotiv for a reported 1.6 million pounds. O'Connor's progress will be watched with much interest by his long term striking partner – Derek Riordan. The two forwards have played together since they were primary school kids living on an Edinburgh housing estate. Over the last few seasons the duo have terrorised defences, scoring over a hundred goals between them for Hibs in the Scottish Premier League. The Russians originally tried to sign Riordan: when he decided that life in Moscow was not for him; they went for his striking partner instead. Will Riordan or other young Scots be tempted into becoming new kids on the Soviet Bloc if O’Connor brings back tales of Eastern promise? Riordan is expected to join Rangers when his contract runs out this summer but even the Glasgow giants won’t pay the kind of wages on offer in Russia these days. O’Connor will earn a reported 16,000 quid a week – about ten times his Hibernian salary. This week he is heading for the sun in Malaga where Locomotiv are preparing for the new Russian season which starts next month. By then the cruel Moscow winter should be over. When the next one comes round big Garry should at least be able to afford to pay the heating bills.