The Telly Broke

[poliphilo]

The telly broke yesterday. Well, not the telly itself, but the set-top box that serves it. The men from Virgin are coming to fix it Sunday morning. In the meantime if I want to watch moving images I'll have to stick a disc in the DVD player.

It was pleasantly quiet last night. I sat in my comfy armchair and read David Copperfield. If the telly had been working I'd have watched the second episode of Michael Wood's Story of India, but I can't say I missed it. 

There have been periods of my life when I haven't owned a telly. The longest was between 1998-91 (approx) when money was tight.  How did I pass the time?  I'm not entirely sure but I've got a mental picture of myself sitting at the kitchen table, messing about with water colours like a Victorian lady.  And if there was something I really wanted to see- like the first run of the Sherlock Holmes stories with Jeremy Brett- I went to my friend's house and we had dinner and made an event of it.

I watch TV most evenings. I flip through the channels or leaf through the Radio Times and usually I'll find something  to hold my attention for an hour or two. But there's very little I feel I have to watch. The last show I got wrapped up in was Rome. I like my ghostie programmes on Living and the Sci-fi channel but I'm not going to feel greatly deprived if I don't get to see them. Not being able to access the dim-witted news bulletins is a relief.

Would I want to live without the telly?  No, not really; I enjoy it too much.  Could I live without the telly? Oh, easily.

Comments

[aellia.livejournal.com]

If our TV wnt I would not miss it a bit. Except for The Night Garden!
However,take away my computer and I'd probably just fade away into oblivion!
x

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

TV- as we've known it since you and I were kids- is probably on its way out. In the not so distant future we'll be accessing TV shows as and when we want them through our computers.

Living without a computer would- I agree- be pretty tough.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I really wish we could access TV shows on demand. It always seems to happen that the things I want to watch are on in the week on a class I teach an evening class or are on too late on a night when I have to get up early the next day. Then on the odd evening when I want to relax in front of the telly, there's nothing on of interest.

The longest we ever went without a telly was from 1970 (when I went off to university) to 1985 (when we bought our first TV set). So as you can see, TV is pretty optional as far as I'm concerned, but if you took away my computer, I'd have no social life! :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We have the facility with cable of viewing a selection of programmes on demand. We watched the whole of Life on Mars, Series 1 this way.

[momof2girls.livejournal.com]

For financial reasons, I had to give up my cable box several months ago. We hardly ever watch television, and the girls watch videos and DVDs, so it wasn't a big deal. Now we get two channels in the midst of a blizzard. When I get more money, I may get DirectTV just to have it in case there's something on I actually want to watch. I'm more of a reader than a TV watcher anyway.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The great thing about TV is that it's there on tap. You don't have to think about it. You just switch it on and there it is.

[momof2girls.livejournal.com]

That's part of the reason I'm thinking about getting Direct TV - so I'll have it when I want it!

[sovay]

There have been periods of my life when I haven't owned a telly.

I didn't have one when I lived in New Haven. There are no current shows that I watch and I could always visit friends if I needed a better screen than my laptop. (Jeremy Brett would have been an entirely valid excuse, however.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Those Sherlock Holmes stories still stand up very well I think. The period detail is impeccable and Brett is, for my money, the greatest Holmes of them all.

[goddlefrood.livejournal.com]

Before moving to the South Pacific I was somewhat of a couch potato. Not really bad, but I did watch a lot of TV. Now I watch about 2 hours a week. There's only one channel in Fiji unless you get satellite and I don't speak Hindi in which language two of the three satellite channels are largely broadcast.

I can and have lived without TV, it's really quite easy :-)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

THere have been times of my life when I've watched a lot of telly and times when I've watched none at all. Easy come, easy go.

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

My first year in Japan I didn't have a TV. I'd rush home after work, cook, then settle down to eat with a book.

These days, I'm gaming on the PC while watching CNN in the background, or watching TV downloaded through the Internet, cabled into my big TV.

When I moved into this new apartment I didn't watch TV or hardly use the Internet for 2 weeks. It was good. But that was when living here was new and interesting. Now, the only thing that changes in my environment is through the TV and the Internet. Forsaking those 2 would mean a much duller life. Though I suppose it may force me to go out more, to bars or whatever- which could result in a more interesting life. Also- less money. TV is a total bargain considering the hours of diversion it provides.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The guy came to fix the TV- in the event he gave us a new set-top box- but it's still not right. We have to go through an elaborate rigmarole to tune the thing in every time we switch on.

I'm not too bothered though. I think this could be the Universe's way of telling me I watch too much TV and it's time I changed my life.