AS we draw near to the end of 2018, it is a time for reflection.

And I realise that the older I get, the more things there are that make my blood boil.

I accept that the reason for this is that I am now 52.

Despite all my best intentions I find myself doing what I said I never would and whingeing about stuff just like my dad did. (Z-list celebrity news, Rap music and reality shows are at the top of my list).

But rather than exiting the year as a negative Nelly, I do appreciate that there are loads of things that are better now than when I was growing up.

Best of all has to be online programme streaming.

I can remember the excitement when three channels (BBC1 and 2 and ITV) became four in 1982, with the launch of Channel 4.

If you mention that you had just four TV channels to choose from to anyone under the age of 30 and you risk being looked at like you were born in 1840 and ate gravel for your tea.

As we moved into the new millennium, the notion of having so little choice of programmes was jettisoned.

Satellite and cable TV beamed hundreds of channels into our homes, with a seemingly endless supply of TV at our fingertips.

It is ironic that despite this, someone in the family would still declare: “There’s nothing on the telly.”

Yes, we got more choice with satellite and cable, but with that increased variety also came an influx of TV garbage.

Over the past few years there has been another seismic shift in TV viewing habits, thanks to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Now, not only can we watch whatever we want whenever we want, but the quality to quantity ratio has vastly improved.

Instead of having to wait for one episode at a time, in the same slot every week, we can ‘binge-watch’ whole series.

This is especially useful if after a week you can’t remember the name of the programme you were watching, never mind what one character has done or said to another.

Netflix can afford to pay for top quality TV and increasingly splash the cash on its own productions.

Great examples of these are Mindhunter, The Crown, House of Cards, The Sinner and the recent interpretation of the Shirley Jackson ghost story The Haunting of Hill House. There are dozens more.

Access to all this programming, for a relatively small annual payment, has transformed the way we watch television.

Forty years ago, it was exciting to anticipate watching the big movie after the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day. Nowadays, children will likely have seen the films on offer several times already - when it suited them, not the broadcaster.

It’s all a bit mind-boggling.

I have fond memories of watching Jason and the Argonauts during Christmas week on a tiny square colour TV in front of the gas fire.

As today’s youngsters become adults and are offered VR headsets to watch TV while sitting in their auto-drive cars, I wonder whether they will think Netflix was old-fashioned and quaint?