When we reached the point where trying to record something off the telly was too much like hard work, I began thinking about other options.

Then, some months later, when Kate complained that she couldn’t tape something on one channel because she wanted to watch something on another, I decided the situation had got silly. So I went out and bought a Humax PVR 9200T hard disk recorder and Freeview receiver combined, and by heck it was a good choice.

It was delivered and Barney and I unpacked it. He asked what it was.

“It’s a Clever Telly Box,” I said. “We can record stuff on it.”

That satisfied him, and the Clever Telly Box has worked its magic. It boasts a pretty good EPG, and a decent way of searching through the coming week’s programming to find the good stuff. I can be sure of getting my Doctor Who, Kate is assured of her Desperate Housewives fix, and Barney has a steady supply of Shaun the Sheep (which is fantastic, by the way) and Numberjacks. Everybody’s happy.

For less than 200 squids, including delivery, this Clever Telly Box has been worth every penny. Just goes to show that, with Freeview boxes along with everything else, you get what you pay for. Our previous Freeview box (soon to be sold or Freecycled) was slow, unreliable, and had an EPG that was almost impossible to use. That’s what you get for 35 quid in the supermarket.