An LCD Can't Match This

A recent weekend away in the country was turned upside down when we arrived at the country house to find the Foxtel set top box had been stolen but not the television. The thief, not having had much time before he was spotted and chased off the property, had not had time to lift the heavy old Pioneer flat screen. Thank God flat screens used to be built like German Panzers unlike the feather weights of today. The television was rendered useless without the set top box and fortunately this became the beginning of the most relaxing weekend I have had in some years.

We made a cup of tea, sat in the reclining armchairs and spoke to one another for hours. If we had found them in good working order, perhaps we might have even played Connect 4 or Monopoly.

I cast my mind back to my own childhood, when, having only the ABC Radio to listen to, the children of the four families that would congregate at Paddy's River in Tumbarumba, NSW, Australia and would listen to the crackle of the fire whilst playing board games. Okay, so the world has come a long way from then and these days there are LCD's in every part of our lives, but wouldn't it be nice just for once to turn them all off and get back to a basic board game?

 Below are some beautiful backgammon boards I found on Gift Vault. Okay, okay, these aren't the basic boardgames I played as a child, they are little more ornate, more aspirational, but it would be nice to have the time to play them.

Very elegant - a Geoffrey Parker White Backgammon Board

This is said to be the most expensive backgammon board in the world - made from stingray and alligator with solid platinum and gold medallions each centred with a 1 carat diamond. Around 250 thousand pounds from Geoffrey Parker. Available through GiftVault.Com