Ruby Grimshaw gets square-eyed

The Olympics, or more accurately watching team GB having a marvellous time winning medals, has driven a London bus through my resolution to cut down on my TV viewing.

Earlier this year I had been determined to do something about the hours I was wasting watching useless stuff on TV. I was either nodding off through Midsomer Murders and at the end not being able to recognise who had done the murder let alone why, or watching repeats of Judge Judy. (How does she get away with all that un-PC ranting? Dare I say that a little bit of it in our courts would
be refreshing.)

“I got as far as renouncing Corrie and only watching the finals of BGT”

Anyway, I had got as far as renouncing Coronation Street, only watching the finals of BGT and limiting Judge Judy to twice a week. But in the last two weeks I have been switching the TV on as soon as I came through the door, and even – horrors – in the morning! Of course, it was the Opening Ceremony that began the rot. Staying up until 1am was unheard of for me but since then I have been acting as though it was my moral duty to keep up with our medal tally. I am not usually a sports lover (apart from equestrian which unfortunately over these Games have not been so popular with the media) but I have been watching sports I never knew existed, and I am still not sure how they worked out the winners in the velodrome where they all look like besotted giant insects whizzing around. But the massive women shot putters intrigued me. My riding friend, Dr D, said that his son, after watching one particularly large Croatian lady emit a blood-curdling roar after throwing her metal ball, commented that he thought he would become gay. One Korean judo lady reminded me of Bella, my cat – a small pretty face on top and a huge body below. She won so I’m sure she was happy.

So I have got to start from scratch again. My plan is to look through the day’s programme and decide what is absolutely necessary to watch and if there is nothing, to switch the TV off after the news. This is the difficult part because channel-hopping is the thin edge of the wedge. Anything that goes past my 10pm limit I will tape. (I like to have a choice of recordings for Christmas because I have seen Miracle On 34th Street enough times now.)