Two Cents Worth
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The British are coming! Well, they seem to be quite ensconced on our TV channels.
Not much for vampires, shapeshifters, implanted heroes, aliens, zombies and the like. Nor do I care much for most sitcoms. Crime shows are more to my liking, from the brutal Criminal Minds to the scientific CSI, to the often heartbreaking Law and Order, SVU. I have also watched for the zillionth time reruns from the enduring Murder She Wrote and loveable Columbo. Canada’s own Murdoch Mysteries reruns are on every day on several different stations so I can pick and choose which one I watch – over again.
Due to the alarming number of reruns and the hideous lack of acceptable new programming, I have taken to watching some of the British crime shows like Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, Father Brown and Law and Order, UK. Like our Canadian Murdoch Mysteries these offerings from England are much less graphic, not much blood and guts here. Oh, one or two folks are always murdered but the whole thing is much more genteel, intricate and subtle. No opportunity for charges of police brutality is ever given by any of the constabulary. I have found a genuine fondness for the quiet, thoughtful manner in which they track down the bad guys and put them away, usually without the use of guns. I am hooked.
But those coppers are a bit slow. The North American police, criminalists or behaviour analysts can always track down the criminals in an hour while some of those Brits take two hours. To be continued requires you to be available at that time, on that day, each week. That takes planning and it interferes with my spontaneous nature.
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The house always looks so empty after the Christmas decorations are put away.
Some folks take them down on December 26 and some wait until at least New Year’s. I wait until after January 6 which is the Feast of the Epiphany or Little Christmas. Don’t know if it’s a family tradition, a Catholic thing, or a Belgian thing, but for me it’s an excuse not to do it any sooner than I have to.
The other day I brought in the little, outdoor snowman which lights the step – well, sort of. It’s one of those things that sucks the energy out of the sun and then glows in the dark. My snowman changes colour and was quite lovely but since I got a new, copper, non-seasonal, outdoor lamp for Christmas I put it out.
The snowman is so cute I decided not to pack it away with the decorations but to hang it in the office window which faces the road, at least until it ran out of juice. I noticed after the first night the colours were not changing. It was stuck on red.
You couldn’t tell it was a cute snowman from the road; it just looks like a red light in the window. When I realized this I took it down. I thought it pretty funny but it was a bit depressing, too. I didn’t get any business.