I awake to find that a number of channels have been removed from our Virgin TV package. To be fair, most of the ones I appear to have lost, the likes of Dave and Gold, have never greatly appealed to me. I enjoy watching television, for sure, but I also like to do other things. If I still have 100+ channels, or whatever it is that I have, I can be sure that the vast bulk of them are crap. If I am unable to view a vintage Only Fools and Horses, it doesn’t matter because I have probably seen it already.
I have thought for a long time about cutting back on the extortionate fees charged by Virgin, Sky and all the rest of them. My love of some sports – and I don’t include my favourite sport football, which I can view on the various terrestrial highlights shows – compels me to part with an absurdly large wad of cash. If I watched the sport channels as little as I watched Dave and all the other repeat channels, I’d get rid of them, too.
I grew up in an era when people had two, maybe three, TV channels. I don’t recall pining for a shed load of other channels and when they eventually came along, all I did was to watch more telly, which I would say is not a good thing. For many years, instead of simply switching off if there was nothing on that I liked, I’d surf, trying to find an old episode of Rick Stein or Highway to heaven, as an alternative to doing something constructive. Then, I realised that one day, I might be on my death bed wondering why I spent so many hours, days, weeks and maybe even years watching crap on telly.
Losing a few TV channels is not the end of the world as I know it. It’s not even a blip. I’ll read a book, write some more crap, play golf, even go to the pub. A repeat of Last of the Summer Wine can wait (forever).
