The TV1000 game

When we were thinking about coming out here we amassed a vast collection of DVDs that we could watch in the evening, thinking that we would be unable to watch much TV here. Turns out we were wrong. Not only can we get pretty much any film and TV series here on DVD for a fraction of the price (and I mean a tiny tiny fraction) but most of the films shown here are in English with subtitles so we can watch them anyway.

We also have Cable TV which has a number of English speaking channels. There is the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and some other ones that I don't know what they are. To get our news fix we can sometimes catch the English language Al Jezera news channel and we did once manage to get Sky News. Otherwise newswise we are left with CNN which raises my blood pressure nightly and I have to resist throwing things at the TV, particularly at the weather reporters who take annoying to a whole new level.

There are a few film channels too: Turner Classic Movies, TV1000 and a few others all show decent films. We've had a Robert de Niro season, a Britflicks moment, Thrillers weekend, Moulin Rouge and other musicals.

We have no idea where to get a schedule for what is going to be shown on these channels, so it is a bit hit and miss whether we actually work out what is on and when. We do know that TV 1000 will always start a new film at 10pm, so a new, unmissable game has developed. Whatever else we are doing at the time, D and I congregate in front of the TV to name that film as the opening credits roll. We are helped in our mission that TV1000 does like to show the same films a lot, so before the studio name has faded from the screen we have already guessed 'Robocop!' 'Die Hard!' 'Die Hard 2!' ' Terminator' and bizarrely 'The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover!'