We haven't suffered one iota from no longer having a television set. Our old television set which we acquired twenty years ago, when we moved into this house wasn't able to capture the new signals, and was thus rendered useless, so we discarded it. And we have not yet replaced it. Nor do we have any idea when we will replace it, or even whether we will.

We're radio listeners, we're newspapers readers, we're book lovers. Neither of us could imagine our lives without reading material, books in particular, and of course daily newspapers. There is not a room in our house that isn't heaped with its share of books or magazines.

We had used cable only for a few years for our television reception, before deciding it was a waste of money, and cancelling it. At that time we decided to invest that monthly fee instead in health insurance for our-then single companion dog - before extending the insurance to a second policy when we introduced our second dog into the household. That insurance too has now been cancelled, because we paid far more into it than what we received in the sole instance when we made a claim and scandalized the insurance provider by so doing.

We've also got our computers, which suffice to introduce us electronically to the wider world of entertainment, education and communications. There's value there for our enquiring minds...