When I was a boy I walked as a boy, talked as a boy and dreamt as a boy. Now I am a man (questionable) and I mumble like a man, hobble like a man and don’t dream any more. I should stress by dream I don’t mean the abstract mad dreams where cows chase me through ever thickening treacle or where my chair can fly but only 1 ft off the ground and only when I really, really, really concentrate - I mean day dream.

As a youth I spent many a Saturday sat on the sofa in my bedroom with a book over my face dreaming about being the lord of space and time - which included having a big house, nice cars and missions to save the world - a bit like Dr Who meets Quantum leap and MTV cribs. Or I would dream about having a spaceship built from a passing asteroid and flying my friends from school up to visit me. Not to mention the countless episodes of TV series I became an indispensable character in. I should mention that I do not do these dreams justice here, the level of detail involved was phenomenal, from how the air was purified to the laws of time travel which also by chance made me immortal.

Those dreams have now been replaced instead I blog, email and sms, shit did not text fiancee outside of my head - and the result is not quite as filling or exciting. Truthfully I also have life and friends something which was lacking during those Saturdays. Ok the friends bit was a lie but a hermit can dream.

I know the culprit the thing that ruined my dreams robbed me of my attention span took away my ability to create and left a dead empty husk of thing behind. It is TV! Why does your brain need to create when it can watch? So as my viewing time increased my day dreaming time decreased and now only after long long periods of DVD, internet TV (iplayer, 4OD, 5 on demand, etc, etc) abstinence can I find myself with the ability and desire to be creative. Take this blog for instance. I am by far most prolific here in Berkeley partly because of the level of sleep, partly because I hate the amount of adverts on US TV and partly because the inner hippy in me is trying to escape and this is the only way for it - peace man. That and the fact that I have not had to travel home from work, cook, eat and possibly but more unlikely clean.

So I know the answer, but will it fix my problem? Will removing the box of idiots from my life help? You may have noticed I said internet TV above. That is because a while back I chucked my TV sick of the Beeb tax and the dreadful crap I was watching just to fill space and time - instead of controlling it. It has not helped though as my addiction runs deep, too many years, too tired to read. But this time as with my last trip to China I will break it. Not by going cold turkey but by small painful cuts. This is my plan:

  1. All DVD or Internet TV viewing will cost me money into a little jar - like a swear jar which I have not got thank god (I’d be very poor from this blog alone)

  2. Buy all remaining copies of Hammond, Clarkson and May’s (if he has actually bothered to write anything) books

  3. Sort out the spare room - which is a mess (my fault)

  4. Erm, think of something to be 4. I know do some more blogging!

I can not nor will I fail!