The TV gig
I was 8 yrs old when TV arrived in our house. It immediately became God, displacing the radiogram - the Archers, dads Tijuana Brass and Mantovani records. We gave the box in the corner our full attention. I fell for it, mesmerized. After a few years a colour one arrived, viewing intensified and it was dinner on a tray in the lounge. We talked less as a family. There were new more important spokespeople in the room and they sported british and american accents. God and I were getting it on. At high school I taught teenagers how to make TV, all the clever ways to frame the story. Then one day I actually got to be with God, I got on telly. A bit of comic selfie-cam stuff led to a few slots in TV ads. In the money. I realized I’d made it when I was recognized in Lynmall. Then a bunch of us had a crack at playing God. Pre-internet and my chums and I spent our savings on a TV transmitter, broadcasting video clips from the hills over Auckland. We were mobil