Let’s Do Some ’80s & ’90s Channel-Surfing on a New England Snow Day

Yes, our kids have iPads, streaming apps, and endless options when it comes to gaming. But there’s one thing technology will gradually steal: the snow day.

Thanks to Zoom and other online learning tools, it’s reasonable to surmise the snow day will be a thing of the past, lost in the same vacuum as pay phones, phone books, and Red Sox Duck Boat parades. Sure, that means less time to make up at the end of the year, but there’s nothing like a snow day, especially when you had all your homework done and the snow was still coming down too hard to shovel. There was literally nothing to do except stay inside and just waste time.

You ever have a slam dunk contest off of a snowbank? With some gloves that have just a little extra grip so you can palm the basketball with one hand and cover your eyes like Dee Brown?

Or pop in a movie that’s due back at Video Etc., but it’s cool, because they’re closed and you have it for one more day (still, please be kind and do rewind)?

And the video games. Endless video games. All those cheat codes you’ve been meaning to try out, and nothing that’s stopping you. The wonders of a pre-internet world.

But before we were all “connected,” there was nothing like daytime television. Just sitting back with a bowl full of popcorn and some hot chocolate and going through the channels.

So, if you’re indoors today due to the weather, a cold, or a case of the blahs, let’s go back in time and go through the channels here in New England.