sunday afternoon

“sigh”
“oh dear.”
“oh dear oh dear”
“oh dearie me”
“sigh”

“stone the crows, what a life”

And thus begins ‘Sunday afternoon at home’  an episode of Hancock’s Half Hour, first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in 1958.  It captured perfectly what it was like to be young in the late 1950s and early 60s on a wet sunday afternoon, with nothing to do and nowhere to go.  For most young people at that time fun stopped on Saturday night and didn’t start again until monday morning.  I can remember my parents not allowing me out to play with my friends on a sunday afternoon.

I’m feeling a bit like Hancock today.  We went out yesterday for a walk and it was a big mistake.   I’m back on the Lemsip with no energy and no inclination.  Anniemay has recovered quickly and is bouncing round the house being the perfect nurse.

When I first became ill back in 2005 I bought a device that would enable me to connect my VHS machine to my computer and thus digitise my collection of VHS tapes.  I kept putting it off because I saw the prospect of sitting down and converting my tapes to DVD as the last stop between me and a care home.  It’s like a modern day equivalent of weaving raffia baskets, which was standard therapy for hospital patients when I was growing up.


Over the years my collection of tapes has dwindled (dumped) and I am now  left with just a set of Tony Hancock TV programmes from around the same period.  Somewhere.  The VHS machine is in the loft along with the digital interface, but I can’t lay my hands on the tapes.  They’re around somewhere and if I had the energy I’d go and look for them.  But I haven’t, so I won’t.  Perhaps another sunday afternoon?