What the...?

Yep. You're right. There is a binder hanging on my satellite dish. Breathe easy, though. I haven't gone completely off my rockers.

When I got my satellite dish installed some years ago, I quickly discovered that rain or snow causes absolute mayhem with my reception quality. Especially when it lands on the receiver head. So I went out to buy myself a protection screen made out of plastic. It worked famously for 2,5 years.

Until this winter. One day reception was totally shot. I looked out my window and saw that snow and ice sliding off my roof had destroyed the screen. I just brushed the snow off the receiver head and had perfect reception again. Forgetful person that I am, I never remembered to buy a new one when in town, so I just resorted to brushing off the snow and rain for a few months.

Then the European Football (soccer for you Americans out there) Championship came along. I'll admit to being a football fan. Not a rabid one, but a fan nonetheless. The international championships are always a big fixture in my book. So, I sat down for the opening match and switched on the TV and got....nothing. Looked out the window. Yep, raining again (a very common feature of the weather around here). Raining quite heavily, actually. It didn't take just a sweep of a brush to keep the receiver head clean, I had to find something to protect the receiver from the downpour.

After several futile attempts with lampshades, dinner plates, toilet paper roll cores, jumping up and down in the rain in impotent anger, I finally found something that worked. A binder. It looks weird, but hey, it works!

It'll have to do until I'm back from Scotland - then I'll get myself a new protective screen.