Navratri

Happy Navratri to everyone celebrating.  Got to love a celebration of 9 goddesses in all their incarnations, from young girl, to wife, to warrior, to benefactor and sage.  It’s also Nowruz, the Persian new year, and we’ve just celebrated Phagwa (Holi) and the spring equinox (in the northern hemisphere)  Lots of celebrations, which is always a good thing!  

I had a day with lots of calls; my support worker, social worker and dietitian all called in a row today.  I’m thankful that I have these services, as they provide a lot of necessary support, which is helpful to me.  I woke up in a panic this morning, and raced out of bed… to realize that today is Wednesday.  We have a planned water outage tomorrow morning, and I thought today was Thursday… I thought yesterday was Monday and only realized in the afternoon that I was wrong.  It’s irritating that I’m confusing my days like this, although I haven’t missed any appointments or any such issues.  I’m diligent about entering appointments into my calendar, so I am at least able to keep up with that.  Don was saying that he had a mild tummy upset today, probably brought on by some chilli with a lot of beans.  He was glued to a baseball game this afternoon, and is now “watching” another game.  I’ve had to adjust the volume to compensate for the snoring… 😇  Jerry was in seventh heaven today, as my support worker was here and he got a prolonged cuddle from her.  He heard her get off the elevator and was behind the door wagging his tail frantically when she arrived.  He very reluctantly accepted being put on my lap when she left to go to her next client and is now curled up behind Don’s legs on the sofa and they’re both happy.

So my sister-friend said to me, “Have you ever watched this show?  It’s really nice; not too heavy, and it’s funny.”  I hadn’t, but she sent me to the “on demand” section of cable where I found 5(/10) seasons of this show.  It’s British, so each season only has about 8 episodes.  I started watching it as I was bored and it was background noise.  I found that she was right (well, we do enjoy many of the same types of shows, so that’s not surprising,) but I’ve now finished the available seasons.  I saw that some of the other seasons were listed as viewable, but to my dismay, they’re available if I sign up for a streaming service.  Now, here’s the thing… cable TV took over from broadcast with the promise of no ads, more choice and flexible viewing.  It was an extra fee, but it increased TV from 3 channels (in Trinidad at the time in the early 1990s) to 20.  Then there were ads, ostensibly to keep costs low (lies!!) and then Netflix switched from mailed movies to online streaming.  They ruled the roost for a while, and then suddenly everyone and their brother is introducing a new streaming service.  So you now have the option to subscribe to “your choice” of networks.  Netflix has largely shifted to creating original content (a mishmash of good and utterly dreadful programming); Amazon has (IMO) a better selection of shows — at least, more that I enjoy.  Disney has some surprising offerings, including shows that moved from broadcast, plus some original content.  (I fell out of love with Star Wars after the introduction of that despicable Jar-Jar character, so I skip everything in that realm.  I’ve never seen Mandalorian, just to convey my dislike.)  Apple TV+ has maybe 3 series that are interesting to me.  (I had free subscriptions to a few services) Now every broadcast network offers their own service, with a selection of their past series; and there are a few others in between.  Then there are the “free with ads” services, which is where I found the show my friend recommended, which are filled with some old series (1980s - 2000) and services that specialize in certain types of shows… my curmudgeon self wants back my single service offering a wide selection, please and thanks.  I’m not about to sign up for dozens of other services on the off chance of finding shows that inspire nostalgia, or the even rarer chance of finding a great new show.

Am I just getting old and crotchety?  Or do you agree that there’s a needless cacophony of services that subdivide “entertainment” endlessly?  Unlike a few of my friends, I don’t watch huge amounts of TV, and Don often has to work hard to get me interested in a new series.  I’m still more inclined to dive into a book and lose myself that way… Anyway, I’ll leave my grumbles for another time.  Apparently, tomorrow we play host to the current US President who will be visiting Ottawa for his first official meeting between the two countries.  That means heavy traffic downtown, and there’s freezing rain forecast, so I see a day at home, where I stay warm and try to find episodes of my show!  Good night!