Where for art thou TV?

Worked from home today so I could be here for the BT man (British Telecom) to install a phone line. That went swimmingly.

But. There is always a but.

We can't get free-to-air tv. We are at the bottom of quite a steep hill, so it is like we are in a valley. Just replace the greenery and hills with concrete and taller buildings. This means our aerial can only get a very weak signal.

This has meant doing work while being on hold (thank god for loudspeaker) to various media/ telecommunications companies to find out who can give us pay tv for minimum cost (so we can watch the free-to-air channels). Not my idea of fun.

Hmmm, this has prompted another thought. Surely we should not have to pay for a tv licence if we can't actually watch it free? Must make that enquiry. Gah! Just checked - of course we do. (Yes, you need a licence to watch TV in your own home over here. Back home it is just covered as part of your taxes so you don't notice).

I find out that we can get TV with BT as we have phone with them. But wait. No we can't, we don't have broadband with them. Maybe swap to their broadband? NB says their broadband is shite as they have caps on usage for saddos who download too much stuff. Ok, there goes that idea.

I find out that we can get Virgin Media (no Dad, you don't have to be a virgin to watch it). Although, this will mean having a BT phone and Virgin phone (no Dad, you don't have to be a virgin to call). This is the cheapest option so far. They are doing a good deal if you book online too. Attempt to do that and find out you have to provide UK address details for the last 3 years. Have to ring up instead and miss out on the deal. Gah!

Am wondering now if we need to bother with TV. We mostly watch it for movies anyway. And for playing the Wii, which is great fun. Gorgeous weather is here now too, so we shouldn't be inside.

At least one positive came out of these enquiries. Found out that the previous tenants cancelled all their services today. This most likely means tonight is the last of the charity as we know in advance we are getting cut off. Should be back on line by the end of next week.

I'm going out to catch me some rays! Ahhh Vitamin D, where have you been my friend?