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Sunday, December 6, 2020

Jim reports from Costa Rica:

 

The rainy season is almost over here, it was very harsh and depressing, especially during 5 days and nights of almost constant rain during hurricane Eta. Lots of roads washed out or were blocked by mudslides. Several big pieces of my farm fell down into the ravine below, taking all the trees and roots and soil. Now there is a 5 foot sheer drop-off where the last football field size piece vanished.

But that is not why I write.This is momentous. December 2, a day that will live in infamy!!!
 
Victor has installed a television in the Caballo Blanco Bar… That was what made the bar special: no TV. People actually talked with each other, even to strangers sometimes. Now attention will be divided between the TV and the person trying to talk to you. And if I went (I won’t) I would be constantly annoyed by the inane chatter coming from the TV.
 
So what am I supposed to do for a social life? Go to Church? They probably have a TV too. The damn bank forces me to watch TV while I sit waiting for my turn. I try to not watch it, but one’s vision is inevitably drawn to it. There is one restuarant in town that only has the TV on at certain hours for news, so I go at certain times so that I no longer have to ask them to turn it  off, or at least turn the volume down, (or turn it off myself if there are no other customers watching it)
 
The only TV show I have watched in the last few decades was Northern Exposure. Incredibly, they had one episode where the bar gets a TV and it changes everything. The character Chris is seated at the bar and a friend tried to talk with him but he is immersed in a sports game on the tube which has become more important to him.
 
It may have been the last bar in the world without TV. I am heartbroken.



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LD:Eight years ago, I discovered the Morning Star in Brighton, England. A perfect bar, it had no television or recorded music. Three years later, I returned to find they had turned on the canned tunes.

If it's still open, Fergie's in Philly has no TV, but the music there is too damn loud. Just turn it all off, people, and listen to each other, while looking at each other's face!


2 comments:

Linh Dinh said...

Looking at Caballo Blanco, I want to lie face-down on the gravel right in front of it...

xlarry said...

hi linh,
there's still the basketmaker's in brighton, one of the ones we chatted in. lots of nice pubs here still, though yes, there is music generally (or always). not that i'm going--lockdown, on wagon. best of luck if in israel. cheers,
dan