I don’t have a TV. I don’t watch live TV on my laptop. And yet I am still bullied by the TV licensing organisation (read: mafia) to buy a TV licence for the exorbitant fee of £145. They threaten that if I’m caught watching TV without a licence I’ll have to pay over a £1000 in legal fees. They say things like, “We know students watch TV on their laptops.” “We know the laptop is the new TV. But did you know…” And on and on with the menacing language, the posters everywhere, the constant mail.
At first I was worried; I thought it might include things like iPlayer – recorded shows. But I looked at the fine print on the posters and letters and though they do their best to hide it, it’s obvious that you only need a licence if you’re watching live TV. I’ve heard people say it’s actually only BBC that matters, but I don’t know about that. Regardless, I wasn’t watching live TV so I followed the instructions in the letter for how to tell them through their website that I don’t need one. I filled out the form and they said they might be sending people around to check (because bla% of people who think they don’t need a licence actually do), and I said, pssshhh. Right. They’re gonna come around checking dorm rooms, and what? Look at my internet browsing history? That would certainly be an infringement of some kind, and it wouldn’t help them – the same sites offers live and playback.
What’s more is they said they’d stop sending (black)mail around but I’ve received two more letters since then, and more than a few weeks after I filled out the form, too. True, the letters were dated from before I said I didn’t need a licence so it could be the fault of the cleaning lady (who for some reason delivers only these letters when we have proper mailboxes downstairs – well, semi-proper if you read my story about that – must be getting subsidised by the evil company itself). But this is definitely overkill. They’re arrogant, mean-spirited, and greedy (the company, not the cleaning ladies. They’re just..mm, yeah).
I mentioned to a German friend that the thought of suing the company for harassment had crossed my mind. I could sure use the cash for tuition. He replied, “This isn’t America.” Oh…right. Have I really been that influenced?
But I actually didn’t start this post to whine about pestering media mobs. I haven’t heard from them for a while so perhaps it’s blown over. No, I actually started this to tell you about my sports centre. It’s just a few steps up the hill from my halls so going in the morning is easy-peasy (fun to say, not so fun to be heard saying) and their equipment is ace. Yes, I probably paid for it with the sizeable membership fee, but I think it’s worth it. I’m making it worth it.
My favourite pieces are the treadmills. Not only do they have headphone and iPod jacks and FM radio, they’ve also got TV (and I don’t have to pay for the licence, that’s what reminded me of that and got me off on that preliminary tangent). I plug in my earbuds, start the belt, and turn on Friends. Used to be Friends. They recently changed it to a lame comedy so I haven’t been as motivated to go exercise.
But the change of show is probably a good thing because I’m more likely to instead choose to watch the news. And that’s where the point of this entry really comes into focus, because lately I’ve been quite busy writing a politics essay. I don’t know much at all about politics. Or I didn’t, before my copious reading.
It’s about UK politics and I just moved here; I didn’t have a clue. But even if it were about Japan or America I wouldn’t have been much more clued in, and oddly enough now I know British politics far better than any other country’s (it’ll be interesting to see how that shapes my interaction with the subject for the rest of my life). But my knowledge is largely theoretical, so I would benefit from the practical aspect of watching David Cameron do the Question Time in the House of Commons, for example.
So I amused myself with the thought that perhaps I should go work out to study for my politics essay.
There, that’s basically all I’m trying to say with this. I probably won’t even do it, I’ll just trade exercise time for reading time. But in a few days I’ll be done with these two essays (the other one being on the Chilean coup of 1973 and a bit more interesting, though equally involved with a subject completely foreign to me – economics. My brain is literally expanding with all the knowledge I’m taking in, guys) and be off to see Emma Watson and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.
Quite excited, yeah.
Inspiration's Waiting Room 