TV
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Cottage tales | 15 comments
I love watching telly. It’s seductive. We don’t have cable telly or a digi box, so it’s just the five UK terrestrial channels.
A year or so ago Danny set up a sideline business and I started writing this blog. How would we create the time to accommodate these ventures? The simple answer was to give up watching telly (August 12th 2006 is engraved on a small invisible gravestone that sits just below the telly in our sitting room).
It was worse than giving up coffee. So much light conversation is about telly and I couldn’t join in. And even worse, when kind people tried to encourage me to join in I had to admit that I didn’t watch it. The shock was palpable.
Also I genuinely missed the mog-out and still mourn the experience at the end of a very hard day.
Christmas is different. My mum is invited and telly is part of each day’s je ne sais quoi. The Christmas before last, my mum and I wrapped ourselves around the telly. I was happy to watch anything. I remember a documentary about the Royal Ballet School and a wonderful production of Nicholas Nickelby.
This Christmas I was poised for viewing,
“Let’s hope there’s some Dickens.”
Danny thumbed through the Radio Times. Twice.
“There’s no Dickens.”
I was so disappointed.
Then I noticed an advert on the back of the Sunday Times supplement that was lurking on the stool in the loo. I shot out to announce my discovery.
“They’re showing The Old Curiosity Shop on Boxing Day evening!”
Danny perked up but my mum wasn’t impressed.
“Do you know what the story is about?” She asked.
We didn’t.
“Well it’s very grim and I will not be tuning in.”
My mum was leaving after the racing on Boxing Day so luckily she would not be subjected to the horror. When Danny had run my mother home we made a simple supper and switched on.
Derek Jacoby was the perfect man to play the part of the perfidious Grandfather. A brilliant actor with a delicate touch. The story was harrowing. I was on the edge of the armchair as the Min Pins nestled behind my back (they’d seen it all before). Thank goodness the grandfather wasn’t living now when every postman’s sack is weighed down with offers of new credit cards and spurious hope.
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I wish i had the will power to do without the telly, but unfortunately i am totally addicted which is a shame as its a total time waster. Besides i’m going to need all my willpower for the new year diet aaagghhh.
Hi
fabulous site – found it about an hour ago as we are thinking of getting some chucks and are looking for other peoples experiences.
However this TV blog has captivated me, I used to do without a TV then got one and tended to ignore it or watch films until my partner moved in whereupon it seems to be on rather a lot. We have agreed as many people on this blog to never put a TV in the bedroom and to move the TV into the spare guest room and then the living room can become a nice quiet place. I suspect that with teh TV out of site then it will be out of mind and we will be far more productive. Just as well – we have high hopes of getting the back garden laid out for veg and fruit producton as well as egg production!
Will now go and read the rest of the site to glean inspiration!
Thanks
Sarah
oooh the Oliver Twist drama (Sophie) is available on DVD from March 10th. Something to add to the rental wish list! Thanks!
Hi Amanda,
We don’t have a telly in the bedroom. Even in our telly viewing days the bedroom was always a quiet room.
Although the view again facility via a laptop might be handy if one of us was laid up for weeks.
Hi Marion,
I was an occasional TV viewer when I was growing up and didn’t have one for years when I left home. Then a boyfriend bought me one, switched it on and left the flat. I watched all the trashy stuff – deemed unsuitable by my mum and loved it!
Now we have cleared the sitting room we have watched a couple of things since Christmas but unless it’s really good, I’d rather be sitting at the kitchen table working on other projects. In the last year or so the commercial breaks seem to have got so much longer…
The TV room sounds like a great idea.
Thanks for leaving a comment.
I lived without a TV for two years (until I moved in with a man with TV) and it was great! In the beginning it is weird, but after a while you start feeling sorry for all those poor creatures who have nothing better to do than watch tv all night (sad).
A friend of mine did a great thing (inspired by my tv-less life): he had a tv-room upstairs. His living room was for living and entertaining people, his tv room was only for watching tv. Brilliant idea.
I am without TV in the bedroom. I don’t think I’m really missing it. I have watched some of my favourite DVDs on the laptop though.
Hi Sophie
Thanks for leaving a comment! And thanks for leaving the link to the Beeb’s production of Oliver Twist. In fact this online resource will be very handy for looking up interesting future productions.
We have decided to watch the occasional thing if it’s good – I was sorry to miss the recent production of Cranford.
Ignoring TV is easy if you have lots to do. I also listen to the radio a lot. I invested in a digital radio years ago and it’s a joy. Particularly Oneword and radio 7.
Hi Danny,
I used to enjoy Midsummer Murders!
Hi Mildred,
Yes radio 4 is good. I have it on all day at work unless the news is particularly grim then I change to radio 2 or radio Cambridgeshire (I love ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue’ too).
It’s years since you last watched TV. That was JR being shot in Dallas!
Great idea renting a DVD to watch on the laptop!
We haven’t had a TV for years now . . . all the time we have been married (5 and a half years then) plus neither of us had one before that, I think the last thing I watched was someone shooting someone else in Dallas!)!
I can honestly say we haven’t missed then tv one bit.
As a treat we rent a dvd (amazon) and sit down and watch the film (on the laptop!)on Saturday evenings. Ian cuddles a piggy and I knit – we just can’t NOT do something else at the same time!
We both love radio 4. The radio is always switched on – the news programmes keep us up to date with what is going on in the world, and there are some great drama and comedy slots(and here I am thinking of ‘I’m Sorry I haven’t a Clue’). The ‘listen again’ feature makes it possible for Ian to select some choice programme to hear in the evening . . . while he reads the newspaper!
Hi Sophie – I guess ignoring TV came easy only because we both had pressing projects to attend to that were more absorbing than Midsomer Murders on a Sunday evening! You should know that we do not have a microwave either . . . different story 🙂
My Darling is very modest and she probably will never mention that the last time we watched the box prior to Christmas was in October when she appeared on ITV’s late afternoon series Britain’s Best Dish. I do hope she eventually writes about that experience.
That afternoon was a bit surreal because she was stricken with a heavy flu and bedridden for a week but of course she got up to watch and snuggled with a hot water bottle and a blanket in the middle of a sittingroom piled high with cardboard cartons. Our good friend Kate, not realising that she was sick, called by at that moment. We sat/stood in the set from Steptoe & Son and watched her inaugural telly appearance. Her dish did not make it through to the next round, which was a bit of a blessing really as the whole affair had eaten up a lot of precious time. A worthwhile experience nonetheless.
Anyhow, I often feel that this cottage is a sitcom in the making. Just needs a touch of reality TV to convert it into riveting viewing!
I’m not sure whether I’ve ever commented before, but I do love reading your blog 🙂
Ref the lack of Dickens, the Beeb did a nice job of “Oliver Twist” a week before Christmas – http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/oliver/
I admire your ability to ignore the TV – it would be an interesting experiment, in my addicted household!