Seizing the Day

Britain is turning into a nation of couch potatoes. It's official...

I was watching BBC Breakfast earlier. They were discussing whether mums are neglecting their children because they are spending too much time on social networking sites. Some of the quotes (paraphrased to a certain extent)

"Six months ago we didn't have TV or internet, did I spend more time entertaining the children then? No, I found other ways of ignoring them"

Children will usually find a way of entertaining themselves. When I was a child I would be out on my bike, or if it was a rainy day indoors drawing or making things out of Lego or Meccano. Kids today (you know you're getting old when you use this phrase) are more likely to be sitting at the computer LOL'ing at their friends, all the time their body mass index increasing and their IQ decreasing.

For me television is an entertainment of last resort. I would rather be doing anything than watching telly. I can't understand these people who are hooked on soaps such as Eastenders and even plan their lives around the episodes. We all want different things from life I suppose. I learn this to my cost when I went on holiday with my ex-housemate. I shouldn't have been surprised of course, he is the sort of guy whose happiness is relative to the speed of his internet connection.

We went for a week's self-catering holiday the picturesque Greek isle of Kefalonia (where Captain Correli's Mandolin was filmed). The holiday started badly with a seven hour delay at the airport, effectively writing off the first day of a relatively short holiday. I was expecting my housemate to act as wingman so that we could go out on the pull. Alas, no. His night-time entertainment was to reading his booking. Ironically the book was about a guy who stays at home far too much until one day he decides to say "yes" to everything. Needless to say shortly after this holiday I found myself someone who would say yes to most things and my bachelor life thus ended.