… in our 18 or so years of cohabitation we’ve never handed over money for a television. This was not a conscious decision on our part, just the way things worked out.
Our first TV was a wee portable jobbie that my dad paid for not long after I left home. O how I went on about the deprivations of black-and-white television, which was all my flat mate possessed. He shut me up with a fist full of cash. I suspect he'd just won a trifecta.
Next came a hand-me-down from my parents when they upgraded.
Then we fostered my brother’s fancy TV while he went a-travelling. Years later, he returned and desired a reunion. “O noes” we thought (or would have if LOLcats had existed back then) “what will we do?” We seriously contemplated buying something, but everything nice cost such a lot and there are some things I just resent spending money on. As we were edging towards the unhappy day we’d have to walk into one of those big electronic superstores and deal with one of the ghastly salesmen, O happy happenstance, Mr Brown announced he’d won a competition at work. The Prize? A brand new TV with a matching video-cassette player! Saved.
And so we come to today, with the Guvamint threatening to go digital tres soon, the tempting teasers of brilliant old movies like the Pumpkin Eater from ABC2 (not available on our simple, old fashioned non-digital doodad) and our aging eyes edging us closer to the screen, the specter of having to pay some serious cash for one of those fancy flat-screened digital monsters loomed most ominously.
But like I said, there are some things I just don’t like spending money on, and the thought of spending thousands on a television, just repelled. We dillydallied, we talked about it, we looked at catalogues, we weighed up the pros and cons of just getting something called a 'set top box'. We did nothing.
And, in the end, we spent nothing, but are now watching a nice flat-screened TV with digital capability. We’ve taken in Mr Brown’s mum’s brand new one. We picked it up on Thursday, the box was still in a cupboard. We’ll give it a nice home with a good diet of ABC 1 & 2, and that weird handball with trampolines Mr Brown found late, late Thursday night.
Saturday, May 30
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
you are such lucky buggers..we just made do with the set top box thingy and my boy found the weird basketball trampoline game in the first night too. xx
do the twins know???
But you chaps had the world's biggest TV to start with!
Yes the twins know, it was loot-dividing day on Thursday, Mr Brown was there to make sure nobody killed anybody over 'the rings', the china and stuff.
There was almost blood, but not quite.
We got the TV because nobody else wanted it, poor little thing.
Congratulations is probably the wrong thing to say under such circumstances - but congrats natheless!
1. As you know, the digital conversion has made us crazy because even a brand new TV my Mom bought still won't work properly!
2. I'm a big believer in "giving with a warm hand" (while one is still alive). And I think a list of intentions about one's personal property is a necessity as an adjunct to the will.
So glad you both survived the experience...
Lee, I like that "giving with a warm hand" and tell my mother pretty much that whenever it comes up. I would hate for there to be horridness over things.
Well, there you are. Brand new tv. I'm thinking of a new tv to go with the soon-to-be-purchased Blu Ray player.
E, I have no idea what you speak of!
But if it's some kind of new TV, we'll probably get one, in 15 years!
Post a Comment