During my early years, the style was just ending.  I speak of a pocket watch safely secured in either a watch pocket just below the belt line of a pair of pants or in a vest pocket.  But that was ending and he wristwatch was taking over.  The early spring-powered watches gradually were replaced with digital watches that could not only tell time but also included stop watch features as well as other must-have capabilities.  Many work underwater.  Now for most of the younger generation, watches have been replaced by cell phones which always display the correct time down to the second.  They never are more than an ear away.

 

However, in parallel that many of us, dare I say a vast majority, have taken advantage of another way of telling time.  I speak of television.  It seems we all have our favorite shows and know what time they start and end.  Consequently, when a certain show starts we know it is 8 PM or 9 PM and know when the show ends it is one half or one hour later.  Many of us determine what time we go to bed by the ending of certain shows.

 

For those who follow the news, we tell time by the start of local or national news.  A problem arises, however, if one is watching the news on one of the 24/7 news channels.  It is then that we feel we are in some kind of time warp.  The hands of the clock never seem to move; we are trapped in some kind of recycled world.  We seem doomed to move in an endless circle wherein we cycle back every half hour, hearing once again that which we have already heard.  Fortunately, the cable or satellite company helps us in these situations.  To know exactly where we are in this seemingly endless loop, they change newscasters and commentators.

 

For some, television has become the Stonehenge of our times.  Just as those ancient people could determine the start of each season by viewing the sun using the perfectly placed stones, so it is viewers determine the season by the first and last of their favorite shows during the year.  The first viewing of their favorite show usually announces the arrival of fall.  The Christmas-themed shows tell us that that festive and religious holiday is near.  The introduction of the mid-year replacement shows tells all that winter has arrived.  The beginning of the reruns make it clear that summer is upon us.

 

So even though you are without a pocket watch, wristwatch, cell phone or calendar, fear not, your television set is there to help.