the big switch off

Having decided a few weeks ago to finally rid ourselves of the menace of broadcast TV, today was the day we decided to remove the aerials and cables from our house.  We can still watch DVDs and videos but there’ll be no more mindless flicking of channels, looking for something (please God, anything) semi-decent to watch.

Even though we’ve not watched much TV at all for the past few months it was a bit strange to not have the option and I have to say for a short period of time I really missed the company…says a lot about me doesn’t it.

Like giving up smoking, it’s more the loss of the habit than the loss of the actual thing that I’ve found hardest to come to terms with.  For example, when David normally goes to bed, the TV would go on even just to see if there’s anything worth watching later in the evening…of course the answer’s always no which is why we’re ’switching off’.  Tonight when he went to bed I really found myself at a loss as to what to do and, in the end, busied myself with making paper duck masks for the kids’ Easter toddle waddle next weekend…it was a desperate moment I can tell you!

Later in the night, when Iona went to bed, we both found we had more energy and agreed it was probably as the result of not sitting in front of the box.  We talked loads for the first time in a few weeks, which was nice.

All in, I still think it was a good decision to ’switch off’…I wonder if we’ll be saying that in a few weeks when we start to get pestered by TV Licensing who seem to have a problem understanding why anybody could possibly not want to watch the utter crap that’s broadcast these days.  Seemingly, it’s quite a battle to get them to just go away!