In the days when Mars bars cost 4d each, and for a penny one could get four strawberry chews, and an Amazin’ bar cost 3d, life was simpler.<\/p>\n
I used to terrorise the four-wheeled, and the two-legged populations, on my gloriously individualistic, wonderfully\/badly hand-painted Raleigh.<\/p>\n
I dashed, and ducked, and dived all over the place, and sometimes I covered absolutely bonkers mileage on a whim. Much like my two-wheeled activity\u00a0these days, really.<\/p>\n
I bolted\u00a0a 3′ whip aerial to the handlebars, and pretended I was Z-Victor-One, as I zoomed around the Welsh hills and valleys.<\/p>\n
I would frequently arrive home feeling hot, sweaty, worn-out.<\/p>\n
Tea was usually taken at the kitchen table – wolfed down with undue haste, and under stern parental frown – as a precursor to the main event of the evening.<\/p>\n
Television!<\/p>\n
The viewing choices weren’t huge.<\/p>\n
There was BBC (no numbers), and there was ITV (also no numbers).<\/p>\n
Dr Who. Softly Softly. A Man Called Ironside. Danger Man. The Saint. Department S. The Champions. Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). The Morecambe & Wise Show.<\/p>\n
And more.<\/p>\n
Because I’m not listing the films. Or the one-off dramas. Or documentaries.<\/p>\n
For a two-channel network, things weren’t too bad.<\/p>\n
There were, inevitably, times when we would say “There’s nothing on”.<\/p>\n
And we’d play.<\/p>\n
Or read a good book.<\/p>\n
Or build something.<\/p>\n
Or listen to the radio.<\/p>\n
I had a variety of radio receivers that would pick up most things.<\/p>\n
I used to listen to the fade in\/fade out of Radio Luxembourg. Or the more resolute (but slightly dull) Radio North Sea International. Or Radio Jackie. Or the best of them all, Radio Caroline.<\/p>\n
Yeah, sure, sometimes “There’s nothing on” was a justified complaint, but there were plenty of other things to do.<\/p>\n
And despite there being, occasionally, nothing on, we were never bored.<\/p>\n
My Smart TV can access so many TV channels I can’t count them all.<\/p>\n
There are the digital Freeview terrestrial channels.<\/p>\n
There are the almost-but-not-quite-identical Freesat satellite channels.<\/p>\n
There are the Internet channels.<\/p>\n
There are the On-Demand, catch-up channels.<\/p>\n
And there are a huge number of digital radio stations.<\/p>\n
And yet last night we watched a DVD.<\/p>\n
And tonight I am watching the remake of Battlestar Galactica on Netflix. Whilst listening to some Gabriel-era Genesis.<\/p>\n
And whilst supervising a huge data migration between servers.<\/p>\n
And writing this.<\/p>\n
Why am I less than half-watching an on-demand repeat of a show that I couldn’t be bothered to watch the first time around?<\/p>\n
Because even with the hundreds of channels available to me…<\/p>\n
There is nothing on.<\/p>\n
I’m trying to explain this unbelievable state of affairs to my 10-year old self.<\/p>\n
And I’m failing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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