the DAB radio

so we bought the radio yesterday, after months and months of dithering …

we had a Psion Wavefinder at one point – in fact, we still do, somewhere; must dig it out. It worked ok for a while, if you ignore the horrible things it did the XP machine to which it was attached and then, one day, the BBC MUX disappeared. Even adding a loft aerial didn’t fix it. And as that was all we wanted it for, it came down off the wall and was put away Somewhere Safe.

as we were in John Lewis yesterday, we went and had another prod and poke at them. Our current clock radio in the bedroom, bought to replace one so old that I suspect its valves had finally perished, never really endeared itself to us. Its aerial was insufficient for a clear signal, and so it crackled a bit. Its LCD was too bright. Its sound was horrible.

so we spoke to the Nice Man at JL, and he demonstrated various things, and we came home with one of these – a Pure Tempus-1. And very nice it is too.

one of the nicest things about it is that you set the time *and* the station for the alarm, so we can wake to, e.g., the dulcet tones of Patricia Hewitt, or Hazel Blears, but we can go to sleep with Radio 3. We tried this out last night, and set it running for Andy Kershaw. This was delightful, and then when Composer of the Week came on at midnight, we were presented with Sibelius.

now I *like* Sibelius. And they started with Finlandia, which was wonderful, as always. But after that they played “Kullervo and his sister”, which was, shall we say, a tad operatic for inducing slumber. But still – nice radio.

all in all – very pleased with it. Ninety nine of your earth pounds well spent, I think. Now, if I can only find a way to get one running in the kitchen …