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August 7, 2005

TO BE CONTINUED....

Don't you hate that? You're watching a gripping programme on television, you can't prise yourself away from the screen for fear of missing a second, you tut when someone makes a noise and your mobile is set to silent, and then those infuriating words 'to be continued...' appear on the screen and you know full well that you will miss the concluding part and never know the outcome of the storyline.

A few years ago I was watching Superman: The Early Years, or something awful like that, but it had me glued to the television. How was the plot going to unfold? How would the episode pan out? Was Superman going to save the world again (derrr....)? Would the mystery be solved? And then ... BAM. Up on the screen pop the words 'to be continued...' After cursing many many times, I listened to the narrator inform me that "Superman returns to Channel 4 next year". BRILLIANT, so there's not even any chance I can make sure I watch the next episode.

And then there was the 'Day Of Destruction' on Sky One a couple of weeks ago. It was Friday night and I was ironing. I like my meteorological disasters (one day I will go tornado chasing) and got hooked on this programme. Two storms were converging on Chicago, one from the north and one from the south. But these weren't any old storms, they were F6 tornados with wind speeds of 300mph - the biggest the world has ever seen and they were going to collide in Chicago. It was worse than that though, prolonged power cuts meant people were stuck in lifts and banks and the characters within those places were in a bit of a pickle (going into labour in the lift and a gun-shot wound in the bank). Entertaining stuff, and addictive. The storms were really brewing up now - peripheral villages were being decimated by the storms as they surged forward towards Chicago. Were the power companies going to restore power in time for these people to escape and head for cover? Was that woman going to give birth in a lift? Is the wounded child going to bleed to death? Is Chicago going to get ripped to pieces by an F6? Is the world going to end? 'To Be Continued...'

AAARRRGGGH! I knew that there wasn't a hope in hell of me being able to watch the concluding episode and that really REALLY riled me.

As fortune would have it, two days later on the Sunday afternoon I just happened to be watching something else on Sky One (The Simpsons if I recall correctly) and an advert for the concluding part appeared on screen. 'Fantastic!' I cried, as my luck seemed to be in and yes, a couple of hours later there I was, glued to the television, door shut, mobile off.

In case you were wondering, the power companies restored power briefly, the woman escaped from the lift as a result and the security door in the bank was raised which freed the injured girl. A plane flew through the eye of the storm to pick them all up and it was all a bit unrealistic and over-the-top but the important thing was that I had seen the conclusion, albeit a fairly naff one.

It would appear that the worm has turned though. Knackered after a big night last night (see previous post) and 45 minutes of football this morning, I parked my butt on the sofa late this afternoon to rest and partake in a spot of channel-surfing. I found the X-Files. I watched one whole episode and saw from the television schedule that there was another episode immediately afterwards. Comfortable and reluctant to move a muscle, I stayed put to watch that second episode and once again I found myself concentrating hard, really getting involved with the programme. Was Mulder going to save his sister from the alien bounty-hunter? Was Scully going to escape her confrontation with the morphing alien? 'To Be Continued...'

AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGH! I threw the remote down in disgust, swore violently and stormed out the room. There was no narrator to tell me when the next episode was going to be screened, so it's a sure bet that I will never find out the answers to my burning questions and I'm sure as hell not going to go out and buy the box-set (even if E-bay are doing them cheap).

But I did check on E-bay and I also made a few bids on some lovely items - there was the blue acoustic guitar signed by Green Day, there was the A-Team DVD box-set containing every episode and there was a Robin Reliant that I'd had my eyes on for a while.

As the auctions drew to a close, the Robin Reliant went but I was in the running for the guitar. There were mere seconds to go - did I want to increase my bid? What was the other bidder thinking? Had he got a high maximum bid? How could I outwit him? The DVD box-set was going well too - there were very few bids and time was running out - should I make a bid now or wait another couple of minutes? What if I waited and my bid was too low and I lost out? What if I made a high bid and ended up paying over the odds for it? The clock was ticking and my brow was beginning to perspire.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Posted by jonola14 at August 7, 2005 7:40 PM

Posted by: Wibbler at August 7, 2005 9:33 PM

Posted by: Jonola at August 7, 2005 10:17 PM