I love to read. True.. But all of the books I read come under the same heading in the library. Fiction, Mystery… I have never stepped foot in the fantasy area of the stacks. I have never read Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. To my daughters endless disappointment, I fell asleep during the Harry Potter movies and never even tried to watch any of the Lord of the Rings.
The first thing you do when you have ten gorgeous new six-foot windows installed around your living room is to install solar shades. Admittedly, too much sunshine isn’t a current worry but it will be an issue this summer. The more pressing concern for the last two weeks was the clarity of the TV picture during the day.
I was one of the few people in my family let alone the planet who had not read any of the Game of Throne books or seen any of the shows. Knocked to the couch by the 2018 flu bug the only thing we both could do was rest, watch TV and pass the Kleenex. I wasn’t going anywhere soon. This was it, albeit a little late, my chance to be a part of the worldwide conversation. We started Game of Thrones.
The first twenty episodes (two seasons) consisted mostly of E answering my endless questions. Who is he? Where are they? Do we know this guy? There are two guys sleeping with their daughters? But isn’t she his sister? How can they kill him? He’s dead? Isn’t he the hero? ………I’m lost…. E was very patient.
My friend Janice wisely suggested I get a geographic map, a list of characters and the family groupings off the google.. I spent season three with the map and a flashlight huddled on the couch as the shows played in front of me. I tried to answer my own questions and finally keep up. Ten more episodes under my belt and I felt I had a pretty good grasp of the situation, everyone dies.. don’t get attached.
By the middle of season four I was seriously addicted. We watched the last two episodes of season four and all ten of season five in one day. If you are doing the math that is twelve hours of TV in a day….We did break at 4 pm for the dogs walk but for most of season five we didn’t move or talk unless to ask for the box of Kleenex .
Season six, was pretty much finished in a day also. But we were both feeling better so actually stopped to make a proper dinner.. Up to then we were reheating leftovers from the freezer… We have two episodes left of season seven.. We are saving them for tonight.
We are both finally over this horrid bug. My only defence of laying on the couch for ten days watching TV is that it was literally the only way to fight this thing. I can’t imagine a more unlikely way for us to spend our time here on this island, and yet we did it… and enjoyed it thoroughly
Off the Grid Islander 
We use Netflix but have to be careful with our streaming on our Xplornet Internet package. We do download shows on our iPads when we are in town to watch at the cabin. The new iPad operating system won’t let you display on a TV monitor so Wayne hasn’t updated his. We also use movies downloaded to our laptops. At least those still show on the big screen. We tend to mix old sitcoms and movies recommended by our friend. And then there’s the lack of electricity to keep us reading vs binging on TV. – Margy
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Yup, it’s a balance… I don’t think you could live this lifestyle if you didn’t like to read..we download movies in town and share them around on the island..play them off our laptop to the tv… we got a telus smart hub for remote properties last year. It’s made all the diff. A lot of our neighbours got one too. 250 gigs for 75.00……..
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I thoroughly enjoyed this post! It did make me laugh though not because you caught the dreaded bug. I felt sorry for you there, though I guess on the bright side you were able to indulge in a bit of R&R. You are not the only one that has not read those tomes you mention at the beginning of your blog post. I also fell asleep during the Harry Potter movies, all of them. And I also fell asleep during the reading by C. to our girls of all of the previously mentioned books, Potter, Rings, the lot!
As for the Crown of Thorns, as I like to call it, I was a latecomer to this series, and did manage to get through a number of seasons’ worth on the DVD’s from the library. I got severely hooked, but then along came summer and out into the garden I went, never to return, and never to complete, the series. I think I would have to start all over again in order to pick up the thread from whence I left off, or do as you did, and download the “road map” to the series; it is completely over-the-top complicated, and for me, so ridiculously explicit and brutal, that I actually watched about half of it with my hands held over my eyes….still, I did enjoy reading about your experience very much. Have you got any other viewing recommendations? We are always searching for something to watch on Netflix during these long winter evenings, and usually spend most of the viewing time doing just that, searching, and then falling asleep! Hope you are both feeling much better now.
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Yup, had my hands over my eyes for a lot of it too… glad I’m not the only one. But I do feel it was worth powering through and trying to understand what the heck was going on. Not sure if you’ve seen the following but we enjoyed them..
The night manager
The crown
Ozark
Big little lies
Trapped
River
We have been told that the Rake is excellent and expect to start it next..
We have endless stashes of movies and tv shows which our kids recommend to us….if we don’t see them in the winter.. as you say..they don’t get watched…summer I’m too busy in the garden…
In the garden..sigh.. I can hardly wait
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Foyle’s War (old but still great). And Sal couldn’t get enough of Justified (I think she has a thing for Timothy Oliphant).
We did our ten-day flue sentence in Hong Kong and Bangkok. That’s a special kind of hell. Basically over now. The odd coughing jag to remind us….
So, E….? Now he’s just lying around? Watching TV, eh? You gonna let him get away with that crap? Aren’t there trees to fall, boulders to bring up from the beach, earth needing moving? Guy’s rep is going all to hell. Get on him MP. Make ’em paint the whole house or something. Don’t let all that mucous fool you. Guy’s getting soft…
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JUSTIFIED! Of course, you must see Justified…! Timothy Oliphant..don’t get me started….. sigh….. good times…….sigh…
we were grateful we had nowhere to be.. horrid to waste vacation days like that.hope it’s behind you now…..
I pointed out to E that you and others are getting worried he is getting soft what with two weeks off and all….he assures me that he will get back at it soon…as you say there are trees to fall and wood to Split!
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Thanks for the flick picks! We watched Rake, and really enjoyed it. That Auzzie sense of humour was refreshing after all the usual depressing and typical North American dysfunctional and/or gorey stuff!
Pretty awful out there tonight, sleety here, cold and nasty out there. Good night for a good movie! Or book.
Roll on spring!!
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