From telly on the never-never to a world in the palm of your hand

My first television was bought on the never-never – a little black and white portable with a dodgy aerial that gave a picture as though you were tuning in through a snow storm.

A coat-hanger enhanced the viewing experience, if not the aesthetics – but then again, my flat, a garage converted into a bedsit, wasn’t going to feature on House and Homes anytime soon anyway.

The bed had no legs, just a mattress on a base but, actually, that was just as well because the roof wasn’t all that high. And if the bed had legs, because the portable was balanced on a three-drawer locker you’d never have been able to see the telly – so it was a perfect solution, arrived at by default rather than design.

There was nothing unusual about buying your television on hire purchase; not least because it was equally commonplace to rent your TV, and anyway a good one (admittedly not a black and white portable) would cost the price of a small car.

An earlier generation might also have rented their radio – particularly in the UK when things were tight between the wars.

How inconceivable that must seem to a generation who have every radio station in the world for free on an app on their mobile phone.

You can still rent a television of course, and indeed you surrounded yourself with the latest state-of-the-art home technology for a monthly fee as well; it’s just that nobody really thinks twice about going out and buying all of that anymore.

It’s the same the way we don’t repair things. Back then, if your telly went on the blink, you might need a new tube. Now there is no tube in the telly – and for the most part no great back to it either.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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