Honoring Hilda.

I've shared in the past how I grew up watching the British show "Coronation Street" which began in the year 1961. It's older than me! Back then, it was in black and white and shown in Canada almost a whole year behind the U.K. I wasn't aware of "soap operas" at that young age but as I grew up, I could see the difference between a typical show and this one. In time, it began to be shown in color and the story lines, though familiar to many families, have become more heightened in excitement. But the feel is still there .... working class people trying to eek out a life in a changing economy, a volatile world and relationships that are ever changing. I lost track for a while as a teen and young adult with school and finding my guy. University, love, courtship, marriage and in time, our first baby. I was on maternity leave (which ended up being over 20 years long!) and turned the tv on one afternoon while our sweet baby napped and guess what I found? Yup! Corrie as we now call it. I was hooked and soon shared the story lines with my husband. As he was at work during the day, I decided to tape it one day and he was soon asking me what was happening with "so and so" and I knew then he was hooked too! In time, our children became used to the sound of the opening credits and even our grandson is now a big fan. He can hum the song perfectly and is now asking about characters as the story lines progress. I'm thankful that in time, we have caught up to the episodes in the U.K. with about a 10 day gap. Much better than the early years with a large time factor. It's hard sometimes to stay away from the blogs and websites that have spoilers but we manage.

This past Fall, one of the actresses who was popular when she was on the show died at the age of 90. Jean Alexander played Hilda Ogden and although she wasn't one of my favorite characters early on, I grew to enjoy her antics and her funny style. Sad to learn of Jean's death but happy to see an hour long tribute on tv the other night in honor of her time on Corrie. It was well done and I quite enjoyed watching the actors who had worked alongside her share stories and those who are new to the show learn about this lovely lady. I'm sure she's got quite a following in Heaven!