Antelope

So, I managed to buy a new television yesterday. It seemed about time I upgraded to something a little more modern. And the sales are still on at the moment, which encourages you to go for any bargains on offer. Though I'm never quite sure how much of a bargain some of the bargains actually are. Perhaps I'm not trusting enough.

I always agonise over purchasing major items of household equipment. Years can go by before I make my mind up, in which time the technology has moved on. And with televisions, technology marches on fairly briskly. Part of the problem is that I get put off by the enormous choice available: when you walk into your local electrical retailer, the multitude of televisions that confronts you is rather like witnessing vast herds of antelope roaming the African plains; literally so, if some wildlife programme is being shown simultaneously on every screen. And how are you meant to decide on which one to buy, other than rejecting the large fraction of screens that are actually wider than your living room wall. Unless, of course, you want to have the screen placed diagonally across the middle of the room, which would give you a bit more space to play with, but may make it difficult to get to the kitchen. It is another of these instances where you start to wonder whether technology is running away with itself, while at the same time leading us by the nose, and whether a simpler life would not be less stressful.

At least the thing is installed and working now. I'm not sure how I managed it, other than by carefully unplugging the old television and ensuring all the wires were fitted back into vaguely similar holes on the new one. If I had to follow the wiring instructions in the manual I would still be struggling with it until the sun grew cold, at which point whether it was connected correctly or not would become pretty much irrelevant.