Random reminder

Press, 14 July 1980, Page 27

Random reminder

THE LOW; WAY ROUIND

The backblocks and high country no longer seem to be as isolated as they once were, but there are times when the sheer loneliness of those places can be almost too much for the people who live there. Some years ago a family which moved into the deep hills of North Canterbury' enjoyed the life as they found it, but for the young wife, the long hours on her own were tedious and wearisome. With her husband out with the sheep, her eight-year-old son away on the school bus, and visits between neighbours several miles away an exception rather than the rule, the hours of solitude seemed to stretch longer and longer. Perhaps television was the answer.

An inquiry in the township 50 miles away, on her fortnightly shopping trip revealed, according to the local television pundits,, that there, was “no reception out in those hills.” So she went back home to her own company and the transistor radio. Came the day when her son was invited to a schoolmate’s birthday party, several miles away at a house out of sight through the hills, and as yet not visited by his mother. On his return he was full of the afternoon’s fun and games, giving a breathless account of his activities. “There w r as lots to eat. and then we watched television.”

A short and to the point telephone call from the infuriated young mother saw the technicians out in force at the

lonely, farmhouse the next morning. All day long they toiled lo get an image on the screen of the brand new television set sitting in the lounge awaiting the breath of Jiving colour. It seemed they toiled in vain, but then as the sun slowly sank in the west, success. The aerial secured to the gate post yards away from the house, rose many feet into the sky, while sundry wires ran every which way, but the picture was fixed and clear, the men packed and left for town, shaking their heads with disbelief.

A few days later, the young wife on another of her shopping trips met the mother of the birthday boy for the first time, during their conversation, the b.b.’s mother remarked that she had heard that “you’ve got television now.” The yOung wife enthused on the difference it had made to her daily living. The b.b.’s mother sighed regretfully, and said, “I wish we could get it, but they’ve told us there is no reception where we are.” There was a lengthy pause: “But you have TV, haven’t you?” The b.b’s mother ruefully denied ownership of the luxury. “But what was it then that Robin watched at Peter's birthday parly?” The b.b’s mother thought awhile, obviously puzzled before enlightenment dawned. “Oh dear no, that wasn’t television. We hired some coloured slides from the Film Library to show on our projector.”