First of all I should warn you that this post has nothing, whatsoever to do with gardening. Intrigued? Then read on.

Today as I sat and watched Peter re-tuning our TV sets for the second time in 2 weeks, due to the switch  from analogue to digital, it made me think about the first TV sets and how they have changed over the years.

The first one I remember belonged to my parents. They had bought it, their first ever TV, in 1953 to watch the Coronation of Elizabeth II. I’d just like to point out here that I wasn’t actually born then, though I did arrive early the following year.

It was a big, polished, wooden box with a tiny screen. More a piece of furniture than anything else. It could only get BBC, in fact there only was BBC, which if I remember rightly was only transmitting from teatime to bedtime, (remember the national anthem and the ever decreasing white spot at the close?) You’d have to be of a certain age. Then to top it all, all programmes were black and white.

My earliest recollections were of ‘Larry the Lamb’, ‘Muffin the Mule’ and ‘Watch with Mother’. Who could  forget:

Monday – Picture Book

Tuesday – Andy Pandy  (I loved Teddy)

Wednesday – Bill and Ben

Thursday – Rag, Tag and Bobtail (My favourite)

Friday – The WoodenTops with Spotty dog.

Simpler times, simpler pleasures, but in the late 1950’s this was hi-tech! Over the years they upgraded to better models, but nothing compared to present day equipment.

The first TV set of my adult life was bought for £3.00 at an auction in 1973. It was a huge, heavy thing, but at least it’s size to screen ratio was better than my parents and it was cheap!

Peter and I were setting up our first home together. We used to watch the TV whilst renovating the house. The week before our wedding Peter decided it was about time we put some legs on the TV so it could stand properly in the corner of the room.

He laid it carefully on the sofa and sat next to it to attach the legs. Sadly, as he finished and stood up the TV sort of bounced up as his weight left the cushion next to it and it landed on the stone floor! So that was the end of that!

Which brings me back to today. Sitting in the comfort of your living room with a remote control in each hand, watching the TV re-tune itself to the dozens of available channels, lots of which are rubbish, is a million miles away from the TV’s of my childhood. It made me wonder where we will be in another 50 years time.

Sadly, I won’t be here to see it.