Margot Ruddock

            On Sunday morning I tried for the first time doing at 6:00 the non performance practice, in front of the computer song work that I’ve always done starting around 7:20. I worked out the chords for the verses and half of the instrumental of “Marilou Reggae” by Serge Gainsbourg. Then I turned the computer off and started song practice at 7:00 instead of 6:00 to avoid Shayla in the next building complaining that I’m violating the anti-noise bylaw. I doubt very much if my singing and playing would register at a toxic volume on the instruments of city inspectors but I might as well go on the safe side.

            It’s interesting playing in that one hour later time slot from 7:00 to 8:20 because hearing me play is new to the people on the street at that time and so they look up at my window. After years of playing from 6:00 to 7:20 I became part of the sonic furniture and so very few people paid me much attention.

            After song practice I worked for another fifteen minutes on “Marilou Reggae” and then I started writing my Food Bank Adventure.

            Around midday I cleaned the outside of my electric fan. I still have to take off the cage and wash the inside. I’ve never cleaned it in the five years since my next door neighbour gave it to me when he moved out. He was a smoker and so the fan is brown in places because of that.

            I had a bagel with cheddar and cucumber for lunch.

            I skipped doing my afternoon exercises and just worked on my Food Bank Adventure, which required a lot of research this time because of the graffiti collage of various stickers that I was writing about.

            I got so caught up in my research that I'd forgotten to go to the liquor store to buy a six-pack of Creemore before it was too late. Because of covid19 the LCBO store closes at 18:00. It was already past 19:30 when I remembered. Fortunately I had a can of Molson Canadian in my fridge from at least two years ago when my upstairs neighbour David gave it to me. I drank it with the egg and bagel that I had for dinner while watching two episodes of Robin Hood.

            The first story features the premier appearance of Will Scarlet, played as much more arrogant and flamboyant by Ronald Howard than by Paul Eddington, who was Scarlet for most of the series. After hunting, Robin and Little John stop at the Blue Boar for an ale where the only other customer is Will Scarlet. Will is being overwhelmingly charming with Joan the barmaid, saying things like, “Are you a duchess in hiding?” When Little John laughs at Scarlet’s poetic speech, Will gets up and challenges both him and Robin. Robin is more interested in drinking an ale and he holds his mug with one hand while fighting Scarlet. Suddenly the sheriff’s men come in, see that Robin and Little John are there and draw their swords. But Will Scarlet does not like having his sport interrupted and so he turns on the soldiers and fights side by side with Robin and Little John. The three of them fight the sheriff’s men off and send them running. Will wants to continue his fight with Robin but Robin refuses. He asks Will to join his band but Scarlet says he wouldn’t be able to stand living so far from a decent tailor. Will leaves and kisses Joan goodbye on the way out. Will goes to the Nottingham market where he is flirting with and kissing almost every woman he sees. Suddenly he is recognized by the sheriff’s men and escapes to another part of the market where he poses as a seller of fabric to a young woman looking at a bolt of satin. She says she needs it for her bedroom and he says he will come and do the measurements right away. As soon as they get to her place Will begins seducing her and they begin to kiss. Suddenly there is a knock on the door. Will looks through the window and sees it’s the sheriff and his men. She says, “I didn’t think he was coming today!” Will asks, “Why should he come here at all?” She answers, “He’s me … uncle!” He hides under her bed but she has so many trunks that it’s hard to get fully underneath. The sheriff is clearly Olivia’s boyfriend. He sits on her bed and as his feet swing Will’s head has to keep dodging. He finally feels his presence and throws back the covers. He stabs his sword underneath but Will comes out the other side. They begin sword fighting and the sheriff calls for his men. Will fights his way to the window and jumps. They chase him and he takes sanctuary at the shrine that Friar Tuck minds. The friar won’t let the sheriff touch and tells Will that he will have to pay a penalty by leaving England. He must confess, take an oath to leave and then head for the coast dressed only in sackcloth. Will says that he will accept as long as he can have the sackcloth suit made by his own tailor. The sheriff says that he accepts these terms as long as he can have two of his men accompany Scarlet to the coast. On his way Robin, accompanied by Tuck, ambushes the soldiers. He tells Will that the sheriff might plan to murder him. Will says the sheriff is busy with the Duke of Chambertain. Tuck says Chambertain is the minister of state for King Philip of France. Robin says if Will knows about Chambertain the sheriff will definitely try to murder him. Robin and Little John dress as sheriff’s men to escort Will to the coast. At an inn Will books passage with a captain who will take him in a rowboat to his ship. Will leaves with the captain and Robin, still disguised as one of the sheriff’s men goes in to ask the proprietor if everything is set. The woman says that Will’s throat will be cut before dawn. Robin and Little John run to the shore just as the rowboat is heading out to sea. Robin shoots an arrow and hits the oar, then waves for them to return to shore. The captain, thinking Robin is one of the sheriff’s men, obeys. Robin tells the captain that the plans have changed and they are taking Will to Nottingham to be hanged. The captain says he would have slit his throat. Will asks for Robin’s sword. There is a brief battle and we hear the captain's death cry. Will says he will join Robin's band but only to get revenge on the sheriff.

            Joan the barmaid was played by Simone Lovell, who was the daughter of Canadian actor Raymond Lovell and poet and singer Margot Ruddock. When she was a child her parents broke up because her mother had an affair with W. B. Yeats. Yeats’s poem : “A Crazed Girl” may have been written about Simone’s mother.

            Olivia was played by Jennifer Jayne.

            In the second story Marian takes Robin to the abandoned Castle de LaRoche where he is surprised to find the Queen Mother, Eleanor of Aquitain. She tells Robin that the Duke of Chambertain is coming to meet the Sheriff of Nottingham. This means that King Philip of France and Prince John are planning an alliance against King Richard. She says that the French delegation will arrive in Nottinghamshire on the morrow dressed as merchants. Robin arranges for them to be robbed in Sherwood Forest by Little John and some of his men. One of them tries to run and is shot in the ass by an arrow. Suddenly Will Scarlet comes with other of Robin’s men dressed as the sheriff’s soldiers. They “rescue” the Frenchmen from the outlaws. They are told they will meet the sheriff at the Castle de LaRoche. Will takes the wounded man to The Blue Boar and leaves him to recuperate but two of the sheriff’s men come in and, not believing the Frenchman’s story, arrest him. When the sheriff learns that the delegates have been diverted he sends his entire guard to the castle. Meanwhile the delegates arrive at the castle and are greeted by Robin, posing as the sheriff. They tell Robin the French army will land at Dover. Robin says that’s no good. The Duke says Ceasar landed at Dover but Robin says Prince John has a girlfriend at Dover and he wouldn’t want her disturbed. Robin presents a list of ridiculous demands but the Duke signs anyway. The sheriff and his men surround the castle. A guard speaks to Robin and he tells the Frenchmen that the castle is besieged by serfs loyal to King Richard. The Duke wants to cancel the contract if Prince John can’t control his own people. Suddenly the queen mother steps out and the Frenchmen kneel as she was once the Queen of France. She tells them to tell King Philip that England’s climate could prove fatal for him. When the sheriff comes to the door of the castle and calls for Robin to come out, the queen mother emerges. The sheriff kneels. He reassures her that he is faithful to King Richard. She arranges for Robin to escort the delegates to their ship and for the sheriff to escort her to Ludlow.

            I notice that Marian rides side saddle. It must have been murder on the back to sit sideways and twist around to see where one is going. But I guess one’s legs were together forward and it wasn’t that much of a spinal twist.