Up all night with Lucky Jack Aubrey

As I mentioned on Monday, my Beloved is on a business trip for a couple of weeks. Even though I know I'll miss him, I was secretly looking forward to the opportunity of catching on the television shows that I like a bit that aren't his cup of tea. Shows like Ghost Whisperer and Two and a Half Men and soppy movies and in depth current affairs and depressing documentaries about camel drivers in Afghanistan. Rather than Striperella or Pizza or anything involving cars.

(To be fair, he's not a remote control nazi. We negotiate what to watch and most of the time we agree although if I never ever see any televised motor sport again I'll die a happy woman)

But I realised, to my horror, that this week and next week, television has gone bad. The good shows have vanished or are replaced by repeats. The worthy shows seem dull. Watching the ABC and SBS on my own, I can't help noticing that there are 10 minutes of ads between shows - gaps that together we would have filled with conversation.

Normal programming will apparently resume after the Commonwealth Games.

Which is when exactly when my Beloved will return.

Oh the abandonment!!

Just as well I have my health and three Patrick O'Brian novels.

Or so I thought. Without my Beloved, there is no-one to say "there there Mary, it's time to go to sleep now. Finish the book in the morning."

Consequently, I now only have two Patrick O'Brian books, a sore head and a hazy idea that Lucky Jack Aubrey triumphed over adversity in a nautical way.