Friday, March 22, 2013  What "Dynasty" never did for me
Something I've noticed after devouring the first two seasons of
"Downton Abbey" is the reliance on the postal service.  This is
important to me, as in the days before electronic communication
I was an enthusiastic and inveterate letter writer.  I wrote
letters to my brother, my friends, people I'd met on my travels
and my heart beat with excitement at the arrival of the mail
each afternoon. Those days are long gone, but I watch with
admiration, as the Crawley family breakfasts each day while
reading letters that have arrived via the morning post.  There
are more letters in the evening post, and when one arrives,
everyone drops whatever they are doing to open the letters.
 What's more, everyone is constantly dropping whatever they are
doing--and in the case of the Crawleys, I realize it's not so
much--to go off and write to someone.  Even if that someone
lives in the neighborhood.  ("We'll have them come to tea.  I'll
write to them at once.")  Character