From the outset neither of us was keen on taking UK TV with us, but that is not to say we don’t watch anything.
Dora came with an aerial socket and in one of the cupboards was one of those old school cathode ray tube TV’s. It was one specifically designed for caravans and motorhomes and was tiny, only about 30cm diagonal, but heavy and took up valuable room now occupied by our pots and pans.
We also realised that we would need a satellite dish. It is amazing, now we are in Portugal and are seeing all the Brits abroad, they all bring their TV’s with them. Some take out a tripod and spend ages pointing the damn thing vaguely into the skies, others fully automatic, it rotates a and skews until it is bang on target, like some guided missile system, all so they can get their latest instalment of Emmerdale or Corrie, I am just assuming here that they all are permanently glued to ITV. God knows the expense, and he would be shocked I am sure.
We sold the TV on ebay for an amazing thirty quid, to some guy who turned up on a Harley.
We had a different plan. We were already taking our laptops, light and multifunctional, and with nice clear LED screens. Not big, but adequate in Dora, who needs 55 inches when the room you are living in is 2m by 2.5m!
We also had a massive collection of DVD’s. While working, we never got round to watching them, this would be a great opportunity. There were also old favourites that we could dust off and re-peruse at our leisure. DVD’s are light, and pack small, we didn’t bring the cases, just one of those wallets. In all, about eighty came along with us. We offloaded those that we have watched in Guisando. They will make their way back to the UK on some future trip.
Top of the list has been ‘Waking the Dead’. Really good just to slob out in front of. We picked up an eight season compilation from eBay. The only problems are the damned adverts you have to go through before every episode and the Dutch sub-titles.
But we have other avenues that bring new shows to our door. I have recently discovered a sceptical show by Penn and Teller. They are American magicians who have had a Las Vegas magic show for the last twenty years. They also have British TV show about magic presented by Jonathan Ross called ‘Fool Us’. But the sceptical show has never reached the UK. It is called ‘Bullshit’, nice title, and investigates anything from alternative medicine, UFO’s, conspiracy theories and obviously religion, of course they are all ‘Bullshit’, just up my street.
So how do we get them. Anytime we have a decent Wi-Fi connection we go onto YouTube and with the aid of www.keepvid.com we can download it and watch it later. Brilliant, who needs a satellite dish. OK, the resolution is not that great, and occasionally you have to download it in 10m bits, but a small price to pay.
We still have a lot of DVD’s to watch and are looking forward to. I loved the graphics and content of Brian Cox’s, so we have the Wonders of the Solar System and the Universe to get through. We have already re-watched, probably for the fourth time now, Alan Partridge and the Office.
Another DVD we brought with us, although Susana is not a great fan, was ‘The Jonathan Meades Collection’. Jonathan Meades is a journalist, who comments on food and architecture. I have always liked his rather surreal presentations, and let’s face it, pretentious delivery. The collection was great, but soon came to an end, as all good things usually do. However I was able to find other Meades fans, who have uploaded unavailable episodes onto YouTube. Now the legality of all this, well I am not sure of, but if I could buy a copy I would.
One of the episodes that I came across was ‘In search of Bohemia’. Jonathan seeks out what the original Bohemia was all about and then goes looking to see if it still exists. And where does he end up, in Hastings. Both sets of my grand parents lived there, but they were my father’s who lived in Bohemia Road. Maybe he should check it out.
Jonathan Meades- In search of Bohemia Part 1
Jonathan Meades- In search of Bohemia Part 2
Jonathan Meades- In search of Bohemia Part 3
The bit about Hastings is in Part 3.
GDR
