“This anti-telly posturing always strikes me as a particularly irrational
affection in England, where we have what is generally acknowledged to
be the best television in the world, and there really is something
worth watching almost every day, even for those with haughtily highbrow
tastes.”
from Watching the English by Kate Fox (p212)
This extract has been taken from a highly amusing book that I’ve had on
the go for quite a while now. To be honest, if you are English or you
have some experience, as a foreigner, of living here then I recommend
this!
Anyway, the point is that we got rid of (or rather - we put in storage)
our TV at the beginning of this week. This is an experiment of sorts.
We were born at the end of the 70’s and are very much children of the
TV couch potato clan. We enjoy watching TV, there’s a lot of really
good programs on, you know about real life! However, we are just about
to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, and were recently talking
about all the things that we wanted to do in the last year, but
haven’t. So we have decided to remove the biggest distraction in our
life and start living.
Hmmm… I must admit I’m not totally convinced. What have we achieved so
far? Well we are talking a lot more, we are going out for evening
walks, maybe this is a good idea.
My grandmother died at midnight last night. She died a confused, frail, old lady and I shall miss her loads.
My only regret, is that I did not visit her as much as I should have over the last year.
I shall say no more on this, other than it is a relief for us all.
Goodbye…
I have just witnessed one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.
I live in a small village just outside Oxford. I was born here and I know that someday soon I am going to have to move away. To buy a house in this area is definitely not within our means. So over the last few weeks I have begun my honest attempt to document the places that hold a very special place in my heart. This I have done with only a limited success so far.
So, after having a huge flair-up with my darling wife I stormed out of the house without either of my cameras. I strolled up into the barley fields (I think) behind where we live, and sat feeling sorry for myself (by which I mean that I debated by how much I was a complete plonker!). The sight before me was one that only God could design. The pale yellow of the sun drifting over the barley corn. The long shadows cast by the old farm buildings (now converted into band practice/recording studios). The shimmer of the lake in the distance.
This was true bliss. Except, that there were two things wrong with this scene, a bitter-sweet footnote if you like.
Firstly, I gave up smoking on about 8 Jan of this year. By my rough calculations that’s about 170 days without a fag. And, yep - you guessed it I had finally tripped up! As I reflected on my beautiful surroundings I couldn’t stop being angry with myself for my rash actions. The scale of my stupidity is truly overwhelming.
The second thing was that usually I get to go or these evening walks with my wife, who I had just been totally unfair with. You know out in the fields I was really missing her.
What a great start to my new blog! What a real Muppet!
