TV Dilemmas

Every now and again something pops up to remind me I am no longer young. Not old, mind you, but certainly long past the first (or second) bloom of youth. Like sometimes when I’m going out and I think ‘Seeing as it’s warm and I’ll only have trouser pockets, shall I bother taking the mobile?’ And then I think ‘Stupid. It’s a mobile. That’s what it’s for. If you don’t take it out with you, there’s no point having it.’ For someone younger, the mobile is a part of their being. They wouldn’t venture as far as the next room without their mobile, let alone the vast outdoors.

A similar thing has happened just now with the TV schedules. At nine o’clock tonight there’s Britain From the Air on Beeb One, the repeat of Long Way Round on Two (which I’ve been watching, having missed it the first time round) and a new Spooks spin-off on Three. My first reaction was one of disappointment at having to miss at least one of these. Split second later remembered the Sky+ thing but that only records one programme while another is being watched (I think). Then I remembered the iPlayer. If I’m bothered enough to remember, I can watch the third one through the iPlayer!

I suppose the point I’m making is that having grown up in the days when the only opportunity to see a programme was at the time of broadcast, it is still something of a novelty to realise we are now in the new age of viewing on demand. OK, I know the video’s been around for many years, and I’ve owned several. But I have never reached the point of taking the recording facility for granted. And I still feel more comfortable watching a show when it is put out - always have the nagging feeling that if I watch it later, I could be missing something more interesting.