I was in the second hand store the other day and I saw one
of those five inch TV’s. You know the kind; it is a TV with AM, FM and Marine
band radio. Years ago, Louise and I had one of those TV’s, we never used it,
but the thought was that if for some reason, the countries power grid failed
and we were invaded by the Russians/Chinese/Americans or Aliens, I could put a
couple of batteries in this thing and find out how the invasion was going.
We never did get invaded, and the power grid never
collapsed, but what did happen was out regular TV died. One minute it was
working and the next minute there was a black screen with sound. This was just
after Arwen was born, so we were young and stupid. We decided that this was the
universe telling us that we watched too much television and it is a good time
to entertain ourselves the old fashioned way. We looked forward to the
challenge.
I think it was about ten minutes before I was rummaging
around in the basement for the five inch TV. I brought it up and placed it on
top of the dead one. What I hadn’t thought about though was that watching a 20”
television from 20 feet away is easy, but it is almost impossible to watch a 5”
screen from 20 feet away. The only good way to watch a 5” TV is for it to be
sitting on your stomach. We tried using that mini television, but it wasn’t
very long before we came to the conclusion that we were addicted to the
television and went out and bought a newer, better, larger TV.
I kept that TV for many years, but there never was an
invasion and happily our main TV never died on us again. I think I eventually
gave it away to a couple that weren’t television people and only wanted it for
the radio. Needless to say, they are no longer our friends.
When I was about twelve, I got a large transistor radio for
my birthday/Christmas that had AM/FM and of course the Marine band. I had
visions of taking that radio to the beach and having dance parties with girls.
It didn’t matter that I lived no where near a beach and even if I did; my
parents would never let me take it because sand will ruin it. I can only assume
that at some point in time they ruined a radio at the beach. I wasn’t allowed
to take the radio off of our property or it would get wrecked. Again, I assume
mom or dad once ruined a transistor radio by taking it off of the property. The
way I saw it, mom and dad were the irresponsible ones, not me.
That left me with this great technological, transportable
wonder plugged into my bedroom wall. I listened to CHUM 1050 but not too loudly
of course. It seems that if you played a transistor radio too loud, the
speakers would get ruined. Now, how did mom and dad learn that? I found myself
with the radio set on Marine Band with the volume turned up (but not too high)
and slowly turning the tuning knob. I would go back and forth, back and forth
for hours and hours, listening to static. Sometimes the static would change a
little and I figured if I just moved the knob slow enough I would be able to
listen to the radio signals of a destroyer or an aircraft carrier.
I never did hear a ship on that radio. I suppose it would
have been better if I’d lived any where near an ocean. I did hear a pilot
talking once or twice. I guess the radio could pick up the frequency of
commercial flights. I was pretty excited, and when I jumped up to get my mom so
she could listen to the pilots, I knocked it off of my desk and it never worked
again. Oh, it could get static, but only on the AM channels.
Mom and dad never mentioned it, but I think there was a new
rule made about my never having a radio in my room or it would get wrecked.
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