When I was a teenager, I was given grinds in Irish by an older cousin who was a primary school teacher and therefore spoke fluent Irish. He performed this service in exchange for tea and biscuits, so it was a pretty good deal for my parents. He was 6 or 7 years older than me and, of course, when you are 17, that is a lifetime. In between making me laugh with his outrageous impressions of Peig, I quizzed him about what it meant to be fully grown-up (as Gaeilge, of course). For me, the litmus test was the news. Did he watch the nine o’clock news? Voluntarily and of his own free will? He did, sometimes.
Of an evening now, I find myself actively looking forward to nine o’clock when the children are finally in bed and Mr. Waffle and I sit down in front of the nine o’clock news with a cup of tea. The soothing tones of Eileen Dunne giving out more information about the snow represent a definite highlight of my evening. Then, the other night after the news, I watched a documentary on TG4 about Máire Geoghan-Quinn. I found it interesting.
I was chatting to a friend the other day about how there is never anything on the television. Our conversation went as follows:
Me: There’s never anything on television
Friend: We have one of these boxes that records programmes for you and it’s really great.
Me: Oh, like that tivo thing?
Her: Yeah, we’ve just finished watching an excellent series.
Me: What?
Her: No, no, I’m too embarrassed to say.
Me (thinking “Bad cosmetic surgery”?): Ah go on, do, do, do tell.
Her: No, I can’t.
Me (thinking “what could it be?”): Ah do.
Her (defensively): Alright, it’s really good actually. It’s “A History of Christianity”
So tell me, what mortifyingly worthy things do you like to watch?
Ahhh. The Nine O’Clock News. Bane of my youth. I seem to remember that BBC2 always put their good comedy on at Nine O’clock. Things like ‘The Young Ones’.
My “secret” favourite is Coast, so much information & beautiful scenery I’d love to visit. One day maybe!
My parents somehow managed to persuade me that there was nothing on television after the evening news but endless Panorama. Maybe because that was all they watched. I recently found myself hooked by a documentary on the development of the harp on BBC4. No really, it was actually quite interesting…
Radio 4. And not just for ISIHAC…
cha0tic – but you love it now.
Oooh, Christine, that sounds exciting.
TM, the harp? It’s not a competition but, if it were, that would win it for you.
Sarah, hmm, yes alright that counts.