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| This was a great wee TV back in 1983/'84 |
You may wonder why I'm showing you a picture of an empty box, so let me explain. This box is around 38-39 years old and has sat in a cupboard for most of that time. There'll be a picture on the blog somewhere where the television that once inhabited it can be seen, but it's safe to say that the box outlived the TV by a very wide margin. For many years the box has been home to various dilapidated items which had belonged to my parents and were no longer used or useful, so I had a clear out of them recently, rendering the box somewhat surplus to requirements.
However, nearly 40 years is a long time to own something, even if it resided out of sight in a cupboard, so it was a bit of a wrench to let it go; that's why I took a photo (took a few, actually) of it, just to remember it by. When I was folding it up to put in the bin, a label on the side of it started to peel away, so I decided to keep it as a memento of something that has been there for nearly two thirds of my life. As I type, I find my thoughts now turning to another box which lives in my loft, which I acquired in Southsea in Portsmouth over 41 years ago. (See pic 3.)
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| You don't need this caption to tell you this is a label |
I acquired it to pack books and records into for my return to Scotland after living in Pompey for nearly four months back in 1981, and it's served that purpose ever since. Maybe I should've stored other stuff in the TV box and moved it up into my loft also, but the thought occurred to me too late to act on it. The box had been sitting out in my back garden getting rained on for several days, so it was too soggy and floppy for the practical purpose of packing anything into it again. I've got the photos and the label (as well as pics of the TV itself) so in a way, the box lives on.
Anyway, this has been a Crivens Service Announcement on behalf of the Bonkers As A Big Box Of Badgers Society, of which I'm President and Chairman - make of it what you will. But tell me (and your fellow Crivvies) - have you ever owned anything for so long that it was difficult to part with once it was no longer needed, and did you miss it when it was gone and regret getting rid of it? Tell all in the comments section and soothe your saddened soul in the process.
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| It's the Tesco Spanish wine box on left. Pic taken on train home in 1981 |
17 comments:
Too many to mention. As you know, Kid, I've been de-cluttering my house over the last few years which has meant giving lots of items to charity shops. Those items were often quite dear to me and held many memories but I'd made up my mind.
Looking back, CJ, which items do you now wish you'd kept, if any?
Ah, the days of the portable TV are now a thing of the past. Your box brought back memories of a very similar Philips B&W portable of my parents' that I used in the mid 70s to watch my shows late in the evening with an earpiece plugged in the headphone socket. I would later use that TV to audio-tape episodes of Star Trek and Batman once I had rigged up a wire to connect the cassette recorder to the TV headphone jack. This was a major step forward in quality from placing a mic in front of the speaker. I have no memory of what happened to that TV, but of course it would have outlived its usefulness in these digital days.
Two great minds, B, in that I also used the TV's headphone socket to connect to my Sony hi-fi system in order to record programmes. My telly had the advantage of being in colour, but considering the amount of b&w shows still being broadcast back then (and which I watched), it wasn't quite the advantage it could have been.
Speaking of tv do you still have a pay a tv license for each tv or per household? And what if you have a smart tv but only use it to surf the internet?
I think it's one license per household, PS, but I couldn't swear to it. I'm not smart enough to have a smart tv, so don't know what the answer is to that one.
I can't really think of anything I wish I'd kept, Kid, but I nearly gave away my Coca-Cola Christmas mug and then decided to keep it which I'm glad about.
On the subject of the TV licence - I bought a new one just yesterday which cost £159 and it's great value in my opinion. You only need one licence per household and I think you need one for a smart TV because you could watch BBC iplayer on it I assume.
I used to be in favour of the TV licence (see how I match the spelling to the comment I'm replying to?), CJ, but I'm reconsidering my view on the matter. The BBC has more than its fair share of sh*te on its channels - and we shouldn't have to subsidise sh*te.
To Phil S's question about the rules for a TV license, this article from the bbc web site is pretty succinct, and answer the question about accessing streaming services. https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-51376255
There are anomalies. It points out that you need a license to watch a BBC programme on BBC iPlayer, but not to watch the same programme on Netflix. There is a distinction between watching live content and recorded content. Patently unworkable with current - and still evolving broadcast technologies.
But there's sh*te on Sky, Netflix etc as well, Kid. I don't want to lose the BBC. And in the current cost-of-living crisis lots of people are ditching their satellite TV subscriptions so they'll be glad of the BBC.
Ta for that, B - at least it's the BBC's official answer to his question.
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Ah, but I don't have Sky or Netflix, CJ. And those who do have to pay the BBC to be able to watch them, so in effect they're paying twice. First, to have a TV to begin with, second, their subscriptions on top of that.
I like many collectors have an emotional attachment to the things I possess. So it's hard for me to surrender them to fate, but necessary if I don't want to be covered over with stuff. I'm pretty close to that as is.
Rip Off
I think I reached that point many years ago, RJ. I really should stop adding to my collections of various things, but there's always something else that comes along, isn't there?
I have this exact same model of TV (owned by my late Gran). Do you still have the label?
Sure do - it's to the right of me as I type.
Have you remembered which year you bought it, I'm thinking maybe as early as 1980?
As I said, 1983 or '84.
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