I always thought that being unplugged was a good thing. When I went on my Caminos I avoided the internet completely for nearly six weeks only logging on to send email updates to the Wife. These periods of disconnection were relaxing and calming to the soul. No news. No gossip. Quiet. I suppose the fourteen miles of walking and the logistics of the Camino albergue were good distractions too.
Apparently things have changed in the four and a half years since I completed my second camino. The past forty-eight hours have been hell! I had major news withdrawal. No TV. No Twitter. It’s been boring. Add in the Wife’s inability to watch March Madness basketball and we both went stir crazy.
As the hours ticked by we both got a bit miffed. We called our cable provider at least six times only to get the runaround. We even started to lie to the cable representatives explaining it was a medical emergency thing but that apparently didn’t do diddly squat to get the repairman here any sooner.
They set up an appointment for Sunday morning and put us on the standby list for Saturday. The standby list. That’s the list of people who can’t leave the house to do things because the repair guy might just arrive when they’re out. The standby list makes you a prisoner in your own house.
I tried to fill my time listening to podcasts I’d downloaded but that got old eventually. The Wife listen to her games on a fish shaped shower radio like it was 1940 or something. There were times when we both sat in our usual spots staring blankly at a dark screen in a dead quiet house, the silence interrupted only by the ticking of clocks. It was quiet ...maddeningly quiet ... too quiet.
The repairman arrived on time (!) this morning. Turns out another cable serviceman accidentally cut our cable while working on our neighbors house. Our cable/intertubes/land line are up again and I am sad to say it really feels good. Too good I think. Gives me something to ponder.
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