Happy Monday. We just celebrated Canada day - our independence day. It's the official start of summer and considered the first long weekend of the season. We went to a barbecue then to the cottage to commune with nature and family. This type of weekend always makes me think back to "the old days", older than I am, happy to say. There is one television at the cottage, which is actually a great improvement from years ago when there wasn't even a telephone. If there is anything to watch on the 3 semi-clear channels or if someone thought ahead and brought a movie to watch on the DVD player, we huddled around the enormous 20 inch screen for an evening of togetherness.
In our big city home, the televisions outnumber the residents. This may seem excessive, but I'm willing to bet that the same can be said for many people out there. With flat screen TVs being easily available and slim in profile, one could tuck them into any small corner or countertop. We could conceivably sit on different floors and watch our own preferred programs without the fighting or the negotiations.
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The Waltons gathered around
the radio |
During the heyday of radio, it was the main source of familys' entertainment. Multiple generations sat by the scratchy sounding machine to listen to music, world news or weekly programs like "Little Orphan Annie" or "Sherlock Holmes". Not only was it great entertainment, it was another reason for the family to gather at the end of the day.
I saw a home renovation show the other day and the couple had designed back-to-back pop-up televisions so that they could watch separate programming within the same room! I think that we're getting a little too anti-social with this leisure activity. We're still willing to go to the local watering hole to cheer on a sporting team. However when it comes to day to day watching, families scatter like startled insects! Hand-held devices are bad enough, but our evening entertainment has also become a solitary activity. Weigh in on this one.
