A year ago my daughter turned me on to Downtown Abbey. I don't have TV and I only agreed to watch because I'd read so much about it in the paper that I felt I should see at least one episode. Totally addictive, of course. I've even watched most of Season 3 (4?) twice, on my iPad. It got me across the Atlantic on at least one flight without complaining or standing up and screaming Let me out of here!

Then, in a rental up in the Sierras, while we (daughter, son, us) were hiking the Desolation Wilderness, I asked to see an episode of House of Cards on Netflix (no self-respecting rental in the backwoods would not have Internet, cable tv and Netflix). That was the same weekend I tried my luck at Candycrush. It took me about two weeks to watch all of House of Cards. And now I'm in the middle of Breaking Bad, which is truly extraordinary, so extraordinary that I wouldn't miss a minute of the credits even. I turn the sound down low or use headphones because I would be embarrassed if any of my neighbours heard all the shooting and screaming and wondered what was going on up here.

Beverley Bie Brahic