As I continue to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, my seemingly eternal encounter with `new technology` gathers pace.   Having just about come to terms with things like PCs, blogging, a car with about 18 computers in it and mobile phones, I now have the new challenge of understanding SkyQ.

(I should add that my mastery of mobile phones is limited by not having a smart one - mine is just a phone really with nice big numbers and seems to enjoy being switched off.)

Anyway, SkyQ arrived the other day accompanied by a helpful young man who installed it and gave me some staccato `instructions` about how to use it.   I thought it best to get on to the internet, find `Understanding SkyQ for Dummies,` printing it off and  taking my time to get my head around it.   Which, to be fair, I have just about managed to do.  Possibly.

Just two problems I encountered, however.  The first was to discover that you can`t get the BBC red button teletext service on SkyQ.  I don`t know why, but you just can`t, which makes it a bit inconvenient as I have to go upstairs, turn on our old steam driven analogue TV to get up to date with things like cricket scores and the football gossip column.   Not the end of the world - I`ll live with it, although I`m sure that if I had a smart phone I could get things like that on there.  I mustn't be tempted though.

The second issue is that on our old Sky+HD box, I had quite a lot of stuff that I had recorded, especially some really favourite films.  Proper films with stories, once upon a time and happy endings, ones from times gone by which had appeared on the excellent Talking Pictures TV channel.   Three particular favourites were `A Canterbury Tale,` which I have managed to track down on You Tube where the whole film is available;  `Dulcima` - a particular favourite for its story by HE Bates, its captivating locations in the Cotswolds and an especially becoming performance by the late and much missed Carol White;  and `When the Whales Came,` another with a proper story, this time by Michael Morpurgo, about life on the Isles of Scilly around the time of WW1 and a vivid reminder of our visit there many years ago.

I`ve managed to buy the DVD of `Dulcima` which will be handy if I can get the DVD player to work in conjunction with SkyQ but the DVD for `When the Whales Came` is `not available` even on Mr. Bezos`s site.   Guess I`ll just have to hope that it turns up again one day on TPTV.

So, onwards and upwards on my journey into a burgeoning hi-tech, state-of-the-art, ocean-going future?  I just wonder what might be next.