Vision On

Our first TV, a Mullard, maybe Murphy, black and white five minutes for it to warm up, and it smelt of Bakelite, the back was made of hardboard punched with rows of tiny slots which cast a reddish glow when all the valves were getting hot. The space left at the back was there, since I was five years old to squeeze behind and then adjust the horizontal hold. The vertical one was a pain as Mum sat with a frown as I twiddled the knob and watched her head move up and down. The reward for all my efforts when I got the jumping stopped was fifteen minutes watching 'Bill and Ben' or 'Woodentops'. Today it's auto tuning, LCD and big flat screen with symbols on the bottom edge, still don't know what they mean. No local man to fix it should the thing pack up and die, it's Mishti on the phone from a call centre in Mumbai. The reason there's no picture and the sound quality's poor? The thing's so light, the Cat has gone and knocked it on the floor.