Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Right as Rain and No TV

Oooooh!  The sound of wind rattling the leaves on the roof, rain splattering against the window....a storm with a little bit of lightning thrown in for good measure.....as we sat in the upstairs den, reading.  What a delight!  I was burrowing into a whole pile of Spin-Off magazines; MM is reading a history of the settlement of the Prairie by o.e. rolvaag.  And though we had planned to watch the PBS program on Stonehenge, the opportunity to do so faded with the cloudy weather and the rain, which...given a choice, we certainly would choose over TV.

Remember all those promises about digital TV and how much it was going to enhance our lives?  Well, maybe.   You see....when it gets cloudy out here JOTOLR, we get no TV.  No signal, no signal, no signal.....and this happens with regularity, to the point where, if we've decided to sit in front of the boob tube as we eat dinner, I make certain to check to see whether we HAVE TV on that particularly night, before ascending the stairs will all the vittles-fixin's. 

So, last night....I barely rememberd to check...and guess what?  No signal, no signal, no signal. 

That's OK.  But it's a far cry from what we were promised...which was THREE "NEW" channels on PBS.  They forgot to tell us it would be on nice, good-weather days only! (with a nod to Vicki Lane Mysteries!) and two of the three channels would be identical.

It's funny.....I always thought the airwaves belonged to the American people.  But now, in order to get TV one has to pay for it.  What happened? If you have cable you are paying for being advertised TO. That's one of the reasons we have our (still-free, so far) antenna:  maybe the reception isn't as predictable as with cable, but that simply means we wean ourselves off of the need to see TV at all.  We watch it when it's available and sometimes--more like often--choose not to watch at all.  No need to get dependent on an intermittent signal that coughs and sputters in the rain!  So, last night was listen-to-the-rain-and-read-a-book night.  To heck with TV. 

6 comments:

  1. It sounds heavenly. When my husband is away I often sit without the television, reading or stitching. I love it! blessings, marlene

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  2. Lovely silence -- my favorite channel.

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  3. Elora -- I'm with Vicki and her silence. -- barbara

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  4. Oh, Vicki and Barbara! I agree, agree, agree! Nonetheless, since last night was a clear channel night and we were afforded the opportunity to catch that Stonehenge program (which was fascinating!!!)after all. I had looked forward to PBS's "Circus" (I love circuses) but it didn't live up to its promise, so, back to reading! And, today I got another Spin-off magazine. Whoop-de-do! Tonight's another reading night with little to recommend watching the tube. Silence! Yea!

    Elora

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  5. Marlene,
    Solitude is nice sometimes, isn't it!

    Elora

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  6. Wow What a bright picture -looks straight of of an Irish promo magazine - just missing the leprechaun :) I know what you mean about TV. In Italy TV is supposedly free, but there is a "tax" on the actual television set. They tax it like a luxury item, the more you have, the more tax you pay. It's really strange. Also, now everyone is either being forced to buy those now flatscreen TVs or a digital decoder because as of January all the channels are going digital - unfortunately not all areas are covered so it will be interesting to see how they solve that problem. I now have digital TV, and hardly ever watch it at all! Same stuff, different dish as they say here :)

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