TV: The Real Good Life

Trow

I think it was a sad reflection on the tone of the programme that the one potentially informative aspect i.e. the self-sufficient community in Wales was glossed over in a 'I learned how not to live in !!!!' way. What was the point in the programme if it wasn't going to feature self-sufficiency? Oh yeah, I forgot. Conflict and arguments.


Whoop-de-doo.

needmoney

Does anyone remember the name of the place in Wales?

tootles_2

The place in Wales I believe is the Alternative Technology Centre in North Wales, has been going for a number of years now, they have a website, try putting in ATCWales and see what happens, Google might be the best search engine.

I found myself wanting to slap a couple of people during the first episode, the pocket venus went and got her roots done, not really self sufficient..... she should let her hair dye grow out, as for Neil well he is whats commonly known as a pillock..... and his two sons are not much better!!!! proper moaners...... I was so angry when I saw them and their friends sitting watching TV and drinking their fathers home made beer whilst their mother was trying her best to get a veg bed up and running.

The youngest couple seem to have the right idea, the chap is very up for it at the moment, but I have a feeling that the girl will find it very difficult.

I would love to have taken part in the programme, but I guess that at 62 and 72 we would not have been daft enough to provide the entertainment the programme makers are looking for, apart from that we do not have a big enough garden...... we do grow a lot of our own fruit and veg in raised beds, have a great crop of strawberries, tayberries and gooseberries on the way, another month or so and our garlic will be ready to harvest.

We have always regretted that we did not have the oppotunity to go down the SS route ourselves, but property and cash were always a problem for us, so we do our bit in the little garden we have. We did rent an allotment for a couple of years, could not give the stuff away, then the council sold them off for building land.

It will be interesting to see how the programme devlopes over the next few weeks.

By the way we have an eco house in Leicester, it has a composting loo which does not smell at all!!!! Friends of ours who are converting a watermill in the Pyrenees also have one, they do not have a bathroom yet although they do have running water. No electric either, they have the wiring in, waiting for the powers that be to inspect the installation and arrange for them to connect to the national grid. We are going out to see them at the end of August..........

spendaholic

I've been looking forward to part 2 of this all week ...

angela110660

Hubby and I were soooo looking forward to the programme. So unhappy that it had to take on that ITV reality tv type stance. What really annoyed us most was when they just mentioned in passing that the young couple (who are gonna do best we are sure) had acquired extra poly tunnel space and land off someone they knew. But then several minutes were spent fussing about selling her car!! Come on producers - if the prog is about doing the good life thing; show it. Don't just give us a load of tittle tattle about nothing. Sorry that the show now only appears to last for 30 minutes per week but maybe there is less interesting stuff to be seen eg how they go about planting out when they have never gardened before - things that are not really important to the show producers! Hubby so disappointed in the whole epic that he has not even asked me to video it for him to watch when he gets home from abroad.
Could have been a super programme - pity ITV got the option to make it!

catznine

Well watched tonights episode and it hasn't got better! Veronica pocketing money from her brother for her hair when the tomato plants failed What about new plants or food for her soon to be hungry family? Looked like a lot of money too about £80 at a guess. Quite an expensive hairdo for someone living the self sufficient life!

Again my money is on the youngsters if only the young woman could get her head around a bit of housework and cooking they would have it made.

tootles_2

I could not believe that the young woman complained about washing the floor, she said she had only done it once in 4 months, the husband did it usually!!!! She needs to enter the real world!!!

Again, the blonde bombshell showed herself in her true colours, taking that cash to have her hair done rather than use it to top up the grocery store against the lean times, very short sighted. I still find her two boys rather truculent, but they did at least show willing by chopping some wood, wonder how much beer they had to be bribed with to do that for the camera???

On the whole found the 30 minutes a bit boring tonight, but we will see what we will see in the next programme.

Eliza252

yep - I nearly choked when she said she was going to spend the money on her hair - err... priorities! and what was wrong with her hair anyway, it was hardly reaching birds nest status?! It did make me want to get some chickens though (I live in a first floor one bedroomed flat on a concrete council estate - so am thinking its not going to happen - unless they are house hens!)

Did anyone see 'fat families' afterwards? I felt quite sorry for the families - as they were obviously all genuinely desperate to lose weight. However, I noticed the old supermarket mistakes again. i.e one family argued that they had to buy ready-meals all time as they were on such a tight budget! Oh dear, they need a Moneysavingold style makeover and quick - plus one of the families spent £120 a week in the supermarket for three of them and it gets worse! in addtion they spent £100 A WEEK on takeaways!
- obviously yet again there has been some selective picking of families - but jeez no wonder the supermarket chains are swimming in crisp 50's!

VickyA_2

tootles wrote:

I could not believe that the young woman complained about washing the floor, she said she had only done it once in 4 months, the husband did it usually!!!! She needs to enter the real world!!!

I felt quite ashamed when she said that as my OH cleans the kitchen floor. Ooops. Then again, I'm normally baking or cooking for the freezer and he's so good at washing the floor...............

What I couldn't believe, like the rest of you, that woman spending her tomato plant money on her hair! I'm sorry, but if I was living the good life (can't at the moment) then I'd have found the local college to cut my hair when my hair did look a bit rough - or just tied it back and trimmed the ends.

super41

So far I'm really disappointed with this programme - it had real potential to be a genuine experiment in self-sufficiency. I was even hoping to pick up some tips about growing veg as we grow a bit ourselves. It very superficial and the first 10 mins was spent going over last weeks programme.

I wonder why the skiing family applied to do the challenge at all - there must be thousands of more interested families who would have risen to the challenge.

Anyone else feel for that guy who was practically building a farm in his garden? His wife seems unsupportive and the chubby girls could do with a bit more exercise so could have helped. Don't these women realise domestic work needs to be done - if they feel its boring etc why don't they swap jobs with the husbands and do the labouring? Better still why can't they all work together and share the jobs?