I'm happy.

Usually when I watch the cricket on channel Nine there's a problem with reception. Not tonight. And what a game. South Africa beat Sri Lanka by nine runs in a match that I started watching from the beginning of the Sri Lankan batting, after I arrived home.

The reception problem is exacerbated when I put my feet up. It's hard to believe, but it's true. I find my two-seater red vinyl couch quite comfy even when I rest my ankles on the northern arm. The arms are high so my neck is bent rather a lot, but it's quite cosy. In this position, however, the TV generally starts to go out of focus so I have to sit up on one cushion or put my feet up on the coffee table when watching Nine.

TV reception is a bit of an issue. When I first moved to this apartment — quite recently — I soon found out. Called the strata managers, who fobbed me off, saying that nobody else in the block had complained. But the reception on the ABC is terrible — streaky swatches of fizz cutting diagonally across the picture and making it jump vertically. The jumps prevent viewing of captions and subtitles. The streaks make watching tennis impossible. Luckily tennis is on another channel (but, then, I don't follow tennis).

Maybe a digital set-top box will help me sort this out. Three of the five free-to-air channels work fine. Unfortunately for me, the ABC has some of my favourite programs. And then there's the cricket.