A new, modern, aerial was fixed onto our roof last week - a four metre, multi-faceted model, fashioned on planet Eavesdropper from gleaming Aluminium, and which resembled apparatus more rightly belonging to the International Space Station. The whole sports separate arms for UHF telly and FM radio. Apparently, the transmissions that I and my neighbours had been receiving were less than optimal: a thick slice of terrestrial Freeview channels were seemingly weak, else totally unavailable (yawn).
A cursory glance at last Thursday's viewing schedules across the viewing spectrum from "BBC1" right through to "Dave" revealed to me the sacred mystery of TV: that the sheer, unalloyed crappiness of the whole was evidently much bigger than the nightmare sum of each individual portion of, say "Jeremy Kyle", "Judge Judy" or "Cops with Cameras". Faith now sorely tested and, incidentally, irrevocably smashed, the god of telly was revealed to have feet of clay and tits of Jello. In short, so many channels with so little to enjoy. No wonder then, that grazing with the remote has developed into a quasi-sport, being in itself, so much more gripping than the very thought of any single one of these cheap and hollow offerings. The whole is annoyingly crappier because of our thwarted expectation that leads us to believe that greater numbers of channels = improved choice = better viewing experience all round. What sort of sicko would have ever thought that the reverse holds true? Well, Bob Dylan, for one did; way back . . .
So, what to do? Well, no, not really. This conundrum is nothing of the sort, and hence does not require a poll, nor a stretch of thought and reflection. Solution? TV now in a box in the garage. We have incidentally beaten the digital Switchover (2011). Kenwood radio tuner attached lovingly to the new aerial, then dusted down (!) and retuned. We have some DAB, but most is of the analogue FM stereo variety. Give me anything, apart from the local guff concerning Bradford and Leeds, and the 'hole' that the telly left is more than amply filled to brimming with Radios 2-5. The pictures on these radio channels alone more than compensates for the drivel on over 40 Freeview TV programmes.
Why not join us? I challenge you to go TV free for a week. Then wonder what the hell the licence fee is being spent on . . . . cos' it can't be TV production, can it?
Must remeber to cancel the Direct Debit for the TV licence fee this week.
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