When I lived in Poland, I lived in a furnished apartment that included cable TV. Unfortunately, it only got CNN, BBC, the Cartoon Network and British Eurosport in English, so that’s what I used to watch at first. As I learned Polish, I watched various programs.
TV isn’t dubbed into Polish like it is in German, they have one script reader who reads all the parts, including those of animals, and the original language is still faintly present in the background – the best of both worlds – learn better Polish and also have my own language playing in he background in case I didn’t understand something (and there were many things I didn’t understand). Eventually, I became an avid viewer of British Eurosport due to the fact that it was in English.
When I moved to Germany, the place I lived in didn’t have a TV and I couldn’t be bothered to buy one, so I didn’t and quite frankly, I didn’t miss it.
Other than the Olympics.
I’m a huge Olympics fan and have looked forward to watching them all my life. That wasn’t a problem in 2004 due to the fact that I attended several games in Athens, but was a problem in 2006. Despite the fact that they were in Italy, I didn’t attend because I don’t like the Winter Olympics nearly as much as I do the Summer Olympics, and also due to the fact that I hate being cold, and standing in cold weather and snow watching events didn’t appeal to me.
Shortly after moving into my new place, I started looking at TVs, determined not to miss another Olympics. I browsed the three major electronics shops in my town, mostly looking at one of those new fangled ones that can be hooked up to a computer, etc. Nothing was within my price range, but I was determined to have a TV by August at the latest to watch my favourite sporting experience.
Then it happened.
Sperrmuehl again.
I saw a TV sitting across the street from my flat amongst other things one morning and went out and got it. After plugging it in and realising that it didn’t receive any channels, I thought that it might have been left for trash for a reason. So, I decided to pursue another angle.
The rental agency that my place is rented through is just around he corner from it, so I visited them and asked about cable TV – and was told that it was included in my maintenance costs (Nebenkosten) and that all I needed was a coaxial cable.
After finding out that Euro Cup games were being shown on a regular TV channel in Germany (normal games aren’t), I spent €6.99 on one at Saturn on 10 June, plugged it into the TV and cable outlet and discovered that I got 33 channels.
Back in business.
The only channel I get in English is CNN (a few programs on MTV too), but I also get EuroSport (in German) – which doesn’t need sound.
Of course, once one has a TV, one needs a remote control – something that wasn’t with it on the side of the road - so I decided to stop at Expert Klein (another electronics store) on my way home from teaching an incompany class in NR and see what they had. There were quite a few ‘universal’ ones that supposedly worked with any kind of TV, so I browsed through them. Some of them had so many buttons that they were downright scary – I don’t need to launch missiles from my living room.
So, I chose the cheapest one and here’s what I got for €5.
Yes, it looks like a soccer pitch.
But wait, there’s more!
It came with this handy dandy case too:
With a bottle opener on it!
How cool is that?
According to the packet it came in, it’s the 2006 FIFA World Cup Party Edition of the SR1060/10. From the blurb on the back of the packet:
With this special edition remote control, you’ll be more than ready for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. It even comes with a bottle opener, scorecard and extra battery so you won’t miss a moment of the action.
I wonder how much they bilked people out of two years ago for them?
Posted by: J
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