Trying not to feel smug

I think I mentioned a few days ago that I'd managed to sneak the old DVD recorder out of the sitting room and into 'my' room.  It was sitting unused and unloved and seemed to be going to waste whereas I could put it to use, especially over Christmas, so I waited until Ash went out, worked out which leads needed untangling and got it moved before he came back.  So far so good then but my next problem was getting it to work.  I studied the instruction booklet but it was obviously written in a foreign language and got me nowhere so I did what I always do, switched it off and tried to ignore it for a few days but it bugged me.  It used to work and it used to be very useful.  We could record onto it and save those recordings, we could buy DVDs and play them and it was just fun and handy to have around.  Now however we had stuff saved on it which I couldn't watch, we had a cupboard full of DVDs (and, sometimes, pork pies but that's a whole other story) I couldn't watch and all the while that machine sat in a corner smirking at me just because I couldn't read an instruction manual.  In the end I had to ask someone who knew and apparently all it needed was one particular cable running from the TV to the recorder.  I had the lead, I plugged it in and, hey presto, we were almost good to go except that we weren't.  I had some memory of being able to record a programme really, really easily and that function seemed to have disappeared, instead the way to record was a very  long winded and complicated affair which I didn't want or need so I thought back.  As I thought back I remembered that we'd bought a new TV a couple of years ago which Ash attached to this recorder but for some reason, from that point on, it hadn't worked properly and I never knew why, I also knew by then never to mention that something wasn't quite right so I left it and now realise that's probably one of the reasons why we stopped using it.  Having got to this point I decided to have another look at the foreign language manual and discovered that, mysteriously, it had been translated to English and I could understand it.  I picked up the handset, pressed some buttons and here we are with a fully functioning DVD recorder and player just waiting for those days over Christmas when I can wallow in the wonderful films we have sitting in the DVD cupboard.  Now feeling very pleased with myself, slightly smug and with a realisation that the skills are there it's just that they've never before been needed.

Oh, and just in case you're interested, today I hiked for one hour twenty five minutes through Bryce Canyon USA while I listened to an interview with Phillip Schofield.  The scenery was stunning and is now added to my travel adventure list.  If you want to see where I was just click on this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWbR6N5tYaQ

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