Countdown to Downton

Christmas has come and gone, the gift wrap has been recycled and my birthday candles were blown out days ago.

But, for me — and maybe you, too — the best is yet to come.

What I’m counting down to is the first episode of Downton Abbey, Season Four.  I’m not the only one.

The website for Masterpiece Theatre  has a countdown clock. Last time I looked, it told me there were ? days, ? hours and ? minutes until I can find out how Lady Mary Crawley is holding up after the devastating (but narratively necessary) death of her husband Matthew when Series Three ended last Christmas.

Let others have their coke and pot (0r not). I’m addicted to Downton.

This year, I managed to avoid British website reviews of Season Four, which has already been broadcast in Britain. Well, mostly. I confess to some ill-advised peeking and found out  — no, this is not a spoiler — that widowed Lady Mary has a surfeit of suitors.  I can hardly wait to see how she responds to each and every one.  Surely she’ll be more circumspect, now that she’s a mother and a widow, than she was in Season One when a seductive Turk was found dead in her bed.