Time On My Hands

It's Wednesday evening and Virgin Media are having problems. Sadly their problems are my problems as right now I have no tv. Well to be precise, I have a tv but no channels. No stations. No images. Nada. I can't even watch previously recorded shows as everything comes from the infamous V+ box which is a wonderful, almost magical box when it's working but is as much use as a chocolate teapot when it's not working.

Like now.

Last week my enjoyment of the England footy game was spoiled when it played up and I had to watch the match on the internet. Tonight a couple of Johnny foreigner teams were playing so it wasn't as important but even so, I'm just about to give a very aggressive "tut" and you just know Mr. Branson will be quaking in his sandals when it reaches his ears.

So now what ? Life without tv !

I tried ringing the customer line and got a msg saying to try later. Wonderful. And just when might this 'later' be, exactly ? When the Virgin Media logo has burned into my screen perhaps !

Time to ramble I think.................

I still have t'internet. The good old reliable internet.

We were using it this afternoon to plan some scenic drives in Northern Italy as we leave on 27th for 15 days over in the land of pizza. So far we've got routes from Rome to Siena to Florence to Pisa. A bit of a mix of coastal and inland drives that look very promising. What we want is scenery and not cities but of course there are just some cities that can't be missed so it'll be a balance. We'd like to include Lake Como and Venice but that might be too much 'driving' and not enough 'seeing' and so we need to plan a bit more.

And in 10 weeks time I'll be off to Florida for the winter but no planning will be needed there as it's like a second home to me by now. Actually it IS my second home but don't tell US Immigration. Yes, six months of glorious sunshine and this pale body is ready for it.

TV still not back yet.

Last week I had phone problems and while ransacking the house looking for my old style corded phone to use as a backup, I found a stack of old diaries from the early 70's. Now as I've mentioned before, I've never managed to keep a diary for a whole year. The nearest I got was in 1970 when I kept a page-a-day diary right until I went to Leicester Polytechnic in September of that year - and then the entries dried up. Not surprising really but still quite sad as ironically those were days I'd like to recall but can't without the help of a diary. I have a few vague mental images but although I wasn't on drugs or alcohol, I can't remember much else.

Anyway as I read through the dairies over the next few days, I'll let you know if anything blogworthy turns up. I doubt it, as the 70's wasn't that great a decade for me. If only I'd kept a diary during the 60's. Oh man would I have beans to spill and careers to ruin.

VM customer service still not answering. Q : Who do they ring when they've a problem ?

I guess I could do something useful like go to bed. Hell it's only 9pm. Got 5 hrs till bedtime so that's no use. I could read a book. Nah....that's what I do IN bed (yes how sad is THAT ??)

What am I thinking !! I have over 40 unwatched (cough, cough) movies on here plus nearly 200 (cough, cough) US tv shows. Wooohoooo.

Ok rambling over. Ice Age 3 here I come.

Who needs tv ?

(I do)