Things we take for granted: Watching the Trooping of the Colour on television over the weekend, with all those scarlets and vivid colours, got me thinking, after some nostalgic discussions with a new friend on here - hi Colin - of what life was like before we were used to flatscreen widescreen HD. My first colour television was in 1972.
I did not really see much television in the black and white '60s until about 1967 - colour tv did not really happen in England until about 1969 and most people did not have it until the early '70s. We mostly rented televisions then - can you imagine?, from that Radio Rentals chain (just like most people did not have washing machines, but went to the laundrette to do the weekly wash). What a difference 40 years make, but of course this was also the pre-internet world with no computers or cellphones. ... AND there were only 3 television channels which closed down early - no wonder we were out a lot making things happen! There was a lot of good television drama then though, unlike now with all those so-called reality and talent shows and acres of cable channels to fill with any old tat. Now a good drama series (like SHERLOCK or DOWNTON ABBEY) that get people talking is a rare event ...
Anyway in 1972 I was renting a large apartment in Chelsea (Draycott Place, just behind the Peter Jones store in Kings Road - I walked past there last year, those houses cost fortunes now...) with my best friend Stan, and 2 girls Sally and Mary - and we were watching the black and white television one evening, the film BECKET was on which I was half-watching and half-way I popped down the road to the off-licence (probably for a cheap bottle of wine or some cider, which we drank a lot then ....) and there was a Radio Rentals store on the way, so I stopped and looked .... Back at the flat I was going "there's reds and blues, and gold and greens.." describing the colour in the film we were watching. There was nothing for it but to join the colour revolution - next day it was down to Radio Rentals to sign up for a colour tv - thats me with it, left. We paid every week for renting tv but never owned it, but at least got upgrades [televisions were ugly bulky things then, with wood veneer, and if you had an indoor aerial fuzzy pictures ....] (an aside about that era: my pal Stan had not seen BLOW-UP so I took him to a revival at the Chelsea Classic cinema in Kings Road - when we realised we were living in a location from the film - as we had to pass that restaurant used in the film).
Love the dinky typewriter ! changing those black/red ribbons was a bugger though.
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