An Afternoon Full Of Storms, Love And Insights.

A piece of soap that's not too shabby.

The last few days we've had a deluge of snow, moans from Bob and a proverbial mudslide in our yard. When the snow was fresh it was picturesque and fable like but combined with shovelling it and the slightly warmer temperatures, all's a slide of mud. Footsteps need to be taken with care and floors looked at with dark glasses.

This afternoon I decided to venture out on foot to visit one of my villagers. Timing is of the essence as before ten is a non starter ( breakfast etc ) after eleven the lunch gets cooked and too close after lunch is nap time. So the only time frame is about three-ish but even that can be fraught with a ' not so happy to see you ' mien.

Just after three in the afternoon is kick-off time for one of the most popular soaps in our part of the world.Sturm der Liebe which I had heard about from many older ladies who are glued to it but as I was visiting an elderly gentleman of eighty-eight, I thought he might eschew the program. Well, I was wrong.

We were chatting a bit when he realized the time and switched on his program but told me to move my chair a bit so that I could see the tv better. Okay, clearly an invite to watch along with him. Despite it being a soap, it was rather gripping and even more so when he told me the background of the various subplots. Oh, he knew his stuff.

At one stage the scene was set at night, with full moon and I was sweating bullets thinking I'd have to watch a bedroom scene with him until sanity returned. No nudity in an afternoon program surely?

The more I watched and was rather intrigued by it, the more I realized why it is so very popular with the older generation. The lonely generation. All the plots, happenings, intrigues, betrayals, romance, divorces and so forth are a substitute for a family. Let's face it, most families have one, two or even more of soap-esque subplots happening on a frequent basis...as I said, these soaps wrap their audience up in a cocoon of familiar family feelings and dealings. Soaps, a good invention after all...

Biggi