Tonight I’m frustrated. I have felt something that I hoped I would be rid of: I miss television. All year I’ve been happily going without telly while at university – after all, I have better stuff to do than watch TV, 90% of which is dire – but I was out today and suddenly I felt a pang!

The cause of this pang was, believe it or not, an entire continent. I have only once stood upon Africa, during a very brief visit to Egypt in 1993, but the place captivates me. To me the place is full of wonder and beauty and adventure, and I feel myself drawn to it. I am a huge fan of Michael palin programmes, and especially enjoyed reading the Africa part of ‘Pole to Pole’ where the adventure goes into the centre of the continent, that which Conrad famously termed the ‘Heart of Darkness’. I have a strong desire to see the Murchison falls, the Serengeti, the Nile and mighty Kilimanjaro.

I also really love the natural history programmes of David Attenborough. His programmes also help capture Africa for me – a place crammed full of wildlife, and the birthplace of the genus homo. His programmes also make my feet itch. they imbue me with the need to seek wilderness, although an electric wheelchair, as I learned on Sunday, is not ideally suited for this.

However, it was neither Attenborough or Palin who caused my sudden pang – the sudden desire to have access to a TV set during the week. It was Bob Geldof. I was in waterstones today, and I caught sight of a book on the best seller list. The title was ‘Geldof in Africa’, and the very cover with all its brightness and shiny texture, made my feet itch again. I felt the sudden, quite irrational urge to find some way o watch this programme.

On the one hand, I know this is silly. It’s only TV – a cultural construct which, according to Marxists like Althuser, is controlled by the bougiousie and innately represses the proletariat. In other words it’s a form of mind control. On the other hand, I am probably never going to see Africa myself – you must be not only able bodied but superhuman to take in the continent in it’s entirety. Watching this programme and those like it may be my only real chance to explore the world.

This is why I aim upset that this programme airs on weekdays, when I am at Uni. Oh well, I suppose I can always buy the DVD.