Television

Like many people of my age, generation and political bent, I tell the world that I do not watch much TV. And that is true. In fact I since June have watched virtually no TV except when I have been visiting someone. However, like many people I am very aware of the seductive power of television. I know that I could very easily be seduced into watching programs about cooking, fixing-up-my-house, science and nature and even on occasion Coronation Street. I have in the past controlled my tendency towards addiction by not having either cable or satellite services wired into my house. In fact with the exception of one year when my landlady paid for it, I have never had access to any channels other than ones my antenna brought it to the house. It is easy to be virtuous when one cannot be tempted.

I now however, have a satellite dish attached to my outside wall (or actually my lady lady’s outside wall). And it did not cost me a dime. When I no longer could receive two of the three stations I use to get due to the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting, I lost both TVO and Global. I was irritated. I was disturbed not only by the fact that there was now only a local broadcaster available who seem to show a lot of sitcom repeats, game shows and paid commercial broadcasts, but also because someone, somewhere in the government decided that I needed to pay for watching television. I have always thought that having to sit through countless commercials repeated endlessly was more than enough payment. Now I was suppose to pay a company for the privilege of watching those commercials. That just did not feel right to me.

However there is a program available through one of the local satellite suppliers to provide free satellite service for four years for those people who previously have not had cable or satellite coverage. It is only a basic level of coverage but I get the main networks. In fact I seem to get two or three stations from each network. So I can now watch news from Winnipeg or Sudbury or Toronto. Nice. Interestingly, I cannot get the local television station via my satellite. I am sure at one point I will get inundated with calls from the satellite company trying to get me to upgrade my coverage. I don’t think so.

If what I can now get is representative of what is available on all of the channels, I was better off without the dish. Last night after watching one program on TVO, I looked at three other programs. After uncontrollably groaning through five minute bits of bad dialogue for each program I turned the television off, turned on the CD player and listened to a book as I played with some wool. A much more civilized and entertaining process. 

 I am grateful that the free coverage is available. I think I am even more grateful that there is nothing available (except for perhaps Coronation Street) that will even come close to tempting me to become addicted.

Selling stuff

I spent Saturday at a craft sale. It was an interesting experience.  While I have, in the far distant past, sold a few things at a large show, I have never spent a whole day beside my stuff -  having people pass comment on it. It takes a strong ego not to occasionally feel a bit rejected as people walk by and barely look at things that you have spent hours on.

For the past two or so months I have used almost of my spare time to wash wool, then to spin it and finally to weave it so that I could have enough product to sell. For the most part I need not have bothered as I sold relatively little. I didn’t lose money. I made enough to pay for the cost of the booth and for all of my wool and dye supplies for the next year, but I certainly did not get rich.

I suppose that one could argue that crafts people never get rich and that we should do it for the love of the craft. And one would be partially right. I do it because it is fun and rewarding to me. I like how both the raw wool and the finished product feels in my hands; I like dyeing and then spinning the wool - never being really too sure at how it will look and I like how my weaving room looks with all of my stuff hanging on the wall waiting for a buyer. There is immense satisfaction in every step of the process. There is a continued sense that I am doing something that people have done for 10,000 years; that I am continuing a long line of spinners and weavers that make functional things for people. But I would like to sell it to. Not just for the money- although that would be nice – but also because if people buy it, then it would be some sort of validation that the work is good.

I brought my spinning wheel with me and I had little kids and senior citizens stopping by to watch me spin. There were a lot of people who stopped by and chatted, some of them had tried spinning or weaving and we exchanged stories of how or why we got started. Some people just wanted to chat about where the wool came from while others appeared to actually be interested in what I was selling. One couple had three rugs on the floor. They just could not decide which one to buy. The woman took out a crystal suspended from a chain and held it over the rugs. They did not buy any of the rugs because the crystal did not spin in the right direction. It was a bit frustrating. Other people said they would be back and of course, with one exception, they never did come back.

But the good news for me was that enough people stopped by and said that they liked my stuff and perhaps most importantly that they liked the colours. I say most importantly because I am still unsure about colours and how to use them. It was nice to hear people say they liked my stuff.

So will I do it again? Of course. I need to get rid of the things that I have and I have a few more projects that I want to try. In spite of the fact that I didn’t sell as much as I wanted or hoped to, some people did buy something. It struck me at some point in the rather long day that selling was very much like hitchhiking. Long spells of dreary boredom interspersed with a few moments of an incredible high. All in all – not a bad way to spend a day or a life.