Extended television viewing seems to be one of the latest evils to threaten our nation's public health. Many boffins out there have been trying to prove that kids watching extended hours of TV are more likely to be obese and generally unhealthy. There may be basis for the theory, but solely blaming all this on TV viewing is over-simplistic.
On reviewing one of these research proposals, my colleague told me of his personal experience with his young boy. Like most parents, he was trying to discourage his son from spending too much time in front of the TV, and decided to allocate some regular time to a more healthy activity of digging in the garden. This seems to have worked well, as his son went on to join a school club for gardening activities. Even more impressive, was when this group of school kids managed to dig up some unidentified truffles in the school garden that is believed to be of some value. However, when interviewed by the BBC about how they plan to spend their fortune, the consensus was mountains of sugary sweets.
On the other hand, my gran had always appreciated the value of TV viewing. When my sister started living on a canal boat, what she was most dismayed at wasn't the practical difficulties with boat living but that my sister has chosen not to have a TV on board - "how would she know what's going on with the world?!".
Well, my gran would have been proud of Golf Boy and me. For a while, we have been shopping for a new couch; while we couldn't agree on a couch, we did find an armchair that we both liked. It's on sale for 20% less, but that's because there's damage on the leg. Realising that the chair has been in the shop for a while, in the words of 'Kirsty and Phil', we sensed "a deal can be done". Immediately, we tune ourselves into 'apprentice mode' and started negotiations:
..."that's a small discount for a damaged chair"...
..."probably, but we are only authorised to further reduce to £xxx"...
..."hmm... that's quite a serious damage, it will cost us £xx to get it repaired"...
..."how much are you willing to pay?"...
..."we think you should take another 30% off (i.e. lesson from 'Dragon's Den', offer below what we really would accept)"...
..."we need to ask head office"...
Then, we left the offer on the table with our telephone number and walked away...
The next day, we got a call. They were willing to go £20 above our price - Result!
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