Channel 23

I ask Marek what he'd like to do after dinner.

'Think I'll just have a look at what's on channel 23.'

We get in from the market on Saturday morning and as soon as the fruit and veg has been unpacked it's 'oh, I need a sit down. I'll just see if there's anything worth watching on 23.'

I come home late from work and Marek closes his engineering text book. 'Let's see what's on channel 23 then we can make some dinner.'

What is this supreme channel I hear you ask? What could tempt this boy at any time of day or night. Some motorbike channel? Guess again. Maybe a cartoon channel, something light? Nope. BBC Prime? No, despite my best efforts he doesn't really appreciate the beauty of British comedy shows yet.

The National Geographic channel.

Now there's a channel that's got his attention. Plane crash investigations, the construction of giant bridges and ship sinking tragedies. That's all he ever watches! Oh there's the odd wildlife show shot on an African plain somewhere, which I'm happy to see a few minutes of, but mainly it's the crash programmes and some (truly fascinating) series called 'extreme engineering' or something.

Bridge building.

Sometimes. The boy. He worries me.