Gunternation

Bill and I have just completed our two-month experiment of not having televison. The apartment came with a set (do we still call it a set?), but we had no channels without the cable hookup. Living without TV has proven that you can spend a lot of time surfing the internet, and also watching downloaded US TV and cable series on DVD (Huff and The Wire, both astoundingly good, especially The Wire, but perhaps too intense for some viewers).

We reasoned that exposure to local television is an important part of understanding the culture, and plus the thing is just sitting there taking up precious space. Also, it has been difficult to shop without the benefit of informative advertising. Seriously, the first time I was confronted by a wall of laundry soap without even a corporate-generated preference or mind-echoing jingle, I was overwhelmed.

So, now we can steep ourselves in Irish entertainment. Why, just yesterday I watched, in part, Scrubs, Frasier, That 70s Show, Will and Grace and Bewitched (original Darren). And I learned a lot about local cleaning products.

Bill’s at the other end of the DART at a church men’s retreat in Greystones this weekend. It was sunny when I woke up (11:30), so I eventually decided to walk to the Saturday food market for a nutella and banana crepe.

Some scenes along the way:

Based on the shadows in the picture below, guess what time it is.

Did you guess 1:45PM? That’s right!

It was windy today with temps in the mid-40s. By the time I got home it was raining lightly.