TV Licence

FMM: 8 mi

Hi, Friends O'Mine,

I survived another hike along the coastline...I even stayed quiet walking up the hill this time. See, I'm learning! At coffee, one lady asked me what I missed the most about the U.S. I thought for awhile and proceeded to tell her how much I missed English muffins (I'd even take an Irish muffin at this point if there were such a thing) and Pepperidge Farm cinnamon bread. She looked at me rather strangely, then said, "Don't you miss your family?"...Oops, why do I always give the wrong answer? Of course, I miss my family more than I miss English muffins! I would like to have BOTH right now!..It seems that these ladies are lacking in their knowledge of sensational crimes. Probably because not that many occur over here. I was able to share a few crime tales that probably kept them up last night. And you all know I have more where those came from...Today I am off to walk 3 miles (who's counting?) to the post office to pick up my Amazon book order (thanks again, bunco friends!) AND to pay our television licence (that's how they spell it here) fee of $240. That's right. One must pay a fee of $240/year per television or risk a fine of $1,000 or even jail time. They actually come and knock on your door to see if you have a television! Even though we don't own the TV in our apartment, we must pay the fee. We were kind of ignoring the whole thing thinking that perhaps we could escape the fee for nine more months, but alas, we received a rather threatening letter yesterday which has prompted me to run to the P.O. this morning and pay the fee. All this for the privilege of watching EuroNews in Russian! It did occur to me that my blog would be considerably more interesting if I were imprisoned for not paying my TV tax. Do you think the U.S. embassy would come to my aid? .. Would you contribute to my defence (that's how they spell it here) fund? Just wondering... I went to a doctor's office yesterday and I thought I had stepped back in time a generation or two...Seriously, it was like walking into Mom's house and having her give me a flu shot in her bedroom while talking on the phone. Well, I must say that they don't waste a lot of time on paperwork (like who I am, my medical background, what side effects the shot might cause..) or fancy offices here. I pulled my shirt off in front of an open window that looked over the backyard garden, she gave me a shot, she had never heard of the medicines I'm currently taken for my cough, prescribed a few more, and sent me on my way...I guess I'm okay...

Well, it's time for my morning march.

Alive and (I think) well,

Tizzie/Tiz/Tizmom/Mom/Liz/Elizabeth