TV/Radio rant

When I am here in France I don't have access to television from the UK. I can play dvd's and the TV's are connected to the French free-to-air but I haven't signed up for any of the cable packages so I can't get the BBC or ITV or Sky or anything that I can readily understand.

On one level this is OK - I don't actually get the time to sit and watch the telly on most days so I don't miss it, and the Irish pub, The Celt, has all channels available which means that I can pick and choose which Champions/Premier League football, Six Nations Rugby that I want to watch as well as any other sport I might fancy, except that I have to go to the pub to do it.

Which, of course is not the same as watching in the comfort of your own home.

I pay a licence fee in the UK still but my overseas IP address stops me watching or listening to many of the live broadcasts put out by the BBC. 'UK users only', it says on their website. If I was in the UK I wouldn't actually be interested in watching anything on my computer because I would watch it on TV.

So imagine my delight when I discovered that I could listen to Test Match Special here in France. The Ashes series is in full swing and I can listen to every ball whilst pottering about here getting jobs done.

Today I got to listen to the final denouement of the Australian second innings and England's first Ashes victory at Lords since the Thirties. Brilliant.

I still don't understand why I can listen to an international cricket match of huge importance but I can't listen to an everyday Premier League football match on Radio 5 Live every Saturday during the season - makes absolutely no sense and just alienates customers.