...and I Have Too Much Time On My Hands?

My dearest made the comment about my having too much time on my hands today when she arrived home from work to find that I'd covered an enormous pile of snow with assorted tarps and shower curtains to forestall damage from impending rain...after piling it for two weeks in preparation for this year's neighborhood favorite: a giant snow sculpture. I simply could NOT let the rain destroy it yet.

But, if you think I have too much time on my hands, how about all the folks who have left comments on the "Save Your Token" Facebook page in an attempt to stop Hasbro from replacing one of the game pieces with something that "is more representative of today's monopoly player," according to Eric Nyman, Senior vice President of Gaming at Hasbro.

Yes, it seems that the company will be retiring one of the fabled game pieces...whichever one gets the least number of votes in a poll. Of course, the top hat, shoe, wheelbarrow, clothes iron, battleship, race car, thimble and Scottie dog are definitely emblems of a long gone America. I mean, who could even tell what a thimble IS, let alone has or uses one (besides me)? Top hats? Really? They cannot be worn with the brim in the back so they are totally useless today; at a jaunty angle? perhaps, but who could define "jaunty" anymore? Battleships are mothballed for drones, and Scottie dogs have been replaced by...cats. If the shoe isn't an Air Jordan, most kids wouldn't recognize it as something one might wear, and how many besides me) continue to use a clothes iron?

And it's not like the retiring piece will be the first game token to be sent directly to jail without collecting $200. Long gone are the lantern, the cannon, and the rocking horse.

Truth is, the game itself might be something of an anachronism...a memory from childhood...that time where memories get magnified into having greater significance than the reality of it.

Parker Brothers sought to alleviate some of the despondency of the Great Depression in 1935 when it introduced this game to the American people. Dreams of amassing great fortunes like the robber barons of the early century must have inspired a great number of people because the game is now printed in 43 languages and appears in 111 countries around the world, according to Hasbro, the new "owner" of the Reading Railroad.

If you are among those affected dramatically by the decision to replace on game piece in mid-2013, there's still time to voice your opinion.

That is, if you have too much time on your hands.

I'm busy with shoveling snow.