The saga of the
Ashbury’s quest for television repair continues. The bad news is we that are
still without our television. The good news is, the part that was needed to fix
the thing is in the hands of the tech, and has been since last Friday...when the
service desk called to give us the earliest possible appointment for said tech
to come with the part in hand. That date? This coming Friday, August
22nd.
To recap, our
television went on the blink on July 27th. We called the service
center that very day, and we received the earliest possible appointment for the
tech to come came out to our house which was... Friday August 1. Of course, it
turned out that a part had to be ordered. The tech had told us it would take a
week. It took two.
I was very
polite when the young woman called us last Friday. After she announced (in a
tone of voice that suggested I was most fortunate to receive such prompt
service) that the tech would make his appearance at our door the following
Friday, I told her I only had one question. I asked her how she could imagine
that waiting 27 days to have one’s television repaired was, by anyone’s
definition, acceptable.
Strangely, the
young woman seemed at a loss for words as to how to answer me.
Now here I must
be honest and tell you that I, personally, don’t actually miss the thing all
that much—but only because it’s still summer re-run season. Even when the new
shows start, I won’t, in any given week, watch the tube for more than a handful
of hours.
It’s Mr.
Ashbury who has been going into withdrawal.
Knowing this
would be so, the first thing I did when it we realized we were going to be
setting a family record for waiting for a repair was to set him up with a
service our cable company provides called “anyplace TV”. This service is
included in the astronomical subscription we pay the company and in essence,
lets him watch several channels on his computer.
Sadly, the news
networks aren’t among the channels provided, and those are the programs he
especially looks forward to watching—and arguing with—on Sunday.
However, he’s
been able to see a few programs, and of course, he has his kindle, currently
loaded up with a good dozen books from his “TBR” pile, so he has been a
relatively happy camper throughout this very trying time.
He has also
been spending almost all of every evening since July 27th with
me, right here in my office—which is where his computer is. Yes, he and the dog
have been keeping me company as I sit here and do my thing. Since I multi-task
all day, interspersing my writing time with housework time, and since I also
often nap in the afternoon, I end up extending my “working” hours into the
evening. After dinner I write, and I also attend to my social media
obligations.
It’s very
unnerving having him looking over my shoulder as I work. If I’m writing, at some
point I stop noticing his attention, because I get lost in the words. But if I’m
scrolling through Face Book, following up on “tags”, reading what some of my
“friends” are doing, or even posting in my street team, it’s very disconcerting
to have a face hanging over my shoulder—even the face of my beloved. I don’t
have anything to hide, it’s just...weird. And in case anyone thinks I’m being
overly sensitive, Mr. Ashbury himself positively hates it when people
look over his shoulder at his computer screen.
So if I seem a
little antsy as the days count down this week to blessed Friday, it’s really got
nothing to do with waiting to have the boob tube working again, filling my brain
with minutia and my ears with noise.
It has to do
with ending the twenty-seven days long siege of my office.
Love,
Morgan
No comments:
Post a Comment