Because of chronic fatigue, I find it nigh impossible nowadays to watch anything on TV and give it my full attention, as my mind soon drifts off or goes into shutdown mode. Often, within 5 or 10 minutes, I've fallen asleep and only wake up once it's all over. However, with these limitations, I've been watching
CALLAN and
BUDGIE (in 10 minute segments) and finally managed to cover all 12 surviving monochrome episodes of the former show. The DVD collection of Callan was issued in 2010, and the programmes contained therein hadn't been seen in 40-odd years, which means it's been over 50 years since I first and last saw them on their initial broadcast between 1967 and '69
*.
(
*Except for the
ARMCHAIR THEATRE pilot,
A MAGNUM For SCHNEIDER, which was repeated as part of the
TV HEAVEN series in 1992.)
I last saw Budgie back in 1985 when it was repeated on Channel 4 (I think), which was 35 years ago. As mentioned in a previous post, when they were first broadcast (in two series) back in 1971 and '72, I saw the last 5 episodes of the 2nd series over the first month in the new house we'd moved to, and in which I again live today. Last night, I persevered and managed (between sleeps) to watch the first of those last 5 shows, so in 4 episodes' time, I'll have reached the end of my quest to re-experience that particular aspect of my past, before moving on to another with the colour episodes of Callan.
Here's the thing though. Back in 1991, I bought the house number-plate from the then-current (and now sadly-deceased) tenant of my former abode, and affixed it to the door of the room in which I now type this. That means I've now passed the number-plate many more times in my present domicile than in my former one, as I only stayed there for 6 years and 7 months (which was around half my life at the time). I therefore had a decision to make in regard to those last 5 Budgie episodes, which was this: Should I watch them in the living-room where I first saw them back in '72, or should I watch them in the room above which sports the number-plate of my former house where I viewed all the preceding ones?
You see, while I find it alluring to re-create a 'moment' in the same room it first occurred 48 years before, I find it just as alluring to imagine the past as it could've happened had we never flitted from our former home in '72. After all, I'd still be watching those last 5 episodes in the same house I first saw them, but in a room bearing the actual number of the previous house in which I'd viewed the preceding 21 - the best of both worlds, as it were. That may not mean anything to you, but I find it appealing in some way to indulge in a game of 'what
if...?', as opposed to what
did. (Try it, it's fun.)
True, a large dollop of imagination is required in the process, but I've got that in spades. Feel free to tell me how mad I am in the comments section.
