Friday 4 March 2011

The television programme guide

appears as a "lift-out" section in the Thursday paper each week. Each week I also remove them carefully from the centre of the paper, fold them over and put them on top of the same shelf in the bookshelf.
I only remember to do this because I also remove the TAB guide each day and, on other days, such things as the extra football and real estate news. My father and I have no interest in racing and have no idea how to read the TAB guide. Neither of us have ever bet on a horse race, nor are we likely to.
My father went to the races once. He was in his first year out teaching. It was a very small, one teacher school in a very remote area. He was expecting the school inspector to turn up on the district's annual race day and that none of the children would be at school. All the children turned up however and the inspector appeared moments later, having arrived at the town pub late the night before.
The inspector gave the books a cursory glance, signed the journal my father was required to keep, declared "the usual holiday" and sent the children off. Then he turned to my father and suggested that they could talk as they walked over to the race track but they had better move quickly because Dad was expected to be a recorder of some sort. Apparently the inspector timed his annual visit to coincide with the local race day. It is the sort of thing that could only happen in a remote area in Australia in the middle of last century. My father has not been to a race meeting since then.
But I digress. The television programme guide arrives inside the TAB guide inside the paper. We keep them in the bookshelf. Each Thursday I change them over.
I was changing them over yesterday when I realised that we had not actually even opened the television programme guide. I thought back on the week. It had been one of our normal busy weeks but it had also been the week where the summer programming, which tends to be largely repeats, was changing over to the new programmes for the year. My father occasionally watches a documentary. He usually at least checks the programmes. He had not. He was too busy. (He is only 88.)
I am wondering if I should just consign the television programmes to the recycle bin along with the TAB guide?

2 comments:

Talei said...

I would! Although, I suspect if you did, it would be the day your Dad want to watch something? ;-)

Anonymous said...

I have managed without a television set all my life - but the internet...?