Everything You've Been Told is a Library

            On Wednesday morning I finished posting my translation of "Flash Forward" by Serge Gainsbourg and memorized the first four lines of his song “Aéroplanes”. I almost nailed down the first eight lines, which is over half the song, but my brain ran out of gas.

            This was the first rehearsal with the new guitar when I wasn't fiddling with a camera between songs. It saved me fifteen minutes of tuning that was taken up by the Oscar Schmidt. I think it would have saved me more time if I hadn’t kept on checking it with the clip on tuner. My mind has been geared to expect my guitar to be out of tune. When it was out it was usually very slightly at the B and small E strings.

            Around midday I finished organizing the papers on the mid level shelves in my bedroom. I got rid of all my university notebooks from courses I’ve taken since I started digitizing my notes. I washed the shelves and put everything back, so now the top two shelves are neat and tidy. I just have the bottom level of bookshelves to go in that room.

            For lunch I had a turkey, cheese and cucumber sandwich.

            In the afternoon I skipped taking a bike ride to get caught up on my journal but I did my exercises while listening to Amos and Andy. In this story a woman mistakes Kingfish’s office for a detective agency that she’s hired for $2500 to track down the husband that disappeared twenty five years ago. Kingfish says he’s a detective and figures that since so much time has gone by he can pass Andy off as her husband. Mrs Simpson seems to be convinced and she posts in the newspaper that she has located her long lost husband, Reginald Simpson. But then the Department of Internal Revenue approaches Andy and tells him that Reginald Simpson owes $900 in back taxes. Kingfish and Andy figure it’s worth it to raise the money since they’ll be getting $2500. They give the agent the money but it turns out to be a grifter’s scam that Mrs Simpson and the fake tax agent play wherever they go.

            I got caught up on my journal in the evening.

            For dinner I had a fried egg and a toasted bagel while watching two episodes of Robin Hood.

            In the first story Little John is captured and the sheriff sentences him to hang in hopes that he can trap Robin Hood when he tries to rescue him. The problem is that the sheriff can’t find any hangman that would risk his life by killing Little John. The sheriff sends to London for a hangman and soon a mysterious black hooded executioner arrives. The sheriff had specifically asked that the hangman not speak so as to protect his identity. Little John is brought out to the gallows, the sheriff pays the hangman just before he reveals himself to be Robin Hood. I saw that coming so early I should have gotten a writing credit. He and Little John swing off the gallows on the noose. Marian slips Robin and Little John bows and quivers. The sheriff is standing on the trap door when Robin shoots an arrow that trips it, trapping him below. Robin tosses the bag of gold among the soldiers and while they are scrambling for coins Robin and Little John escape.

            In the second story Robin’s latest recruit is a skilful thief from London known as Pick. The men don't like him because he's slick and has cheated them out of money with a shell game. Robin's men rescue a messenger from Queen Eleanor as he is attacked by the sheriff’s men. The message is that the queen's jewels are needed by King Richard for his campaign in France. The jewels are in a secret vault at Hastings House in London. He presents Robin with a plan of the building showing the location of the vault. Robin decides that he will take Pick with him to help him get into Hastings House. In London Pick introduces Robin to a team of his criminal colleagues with more urban skills than the outlaws of Sherwood Forest. They are Polly, April, Sad Simon and Walleye. One of the guards of Hastings House has popped into the Grey Goose Tavern for a couple of mugs of ale. While Alice flirts with him Polly lifts the key to Hastings House from his belt. Sad Simon makes a wax impression of the key and then the women return the key to the guard, telling him that he'd dropped it in the tavern. Simon makes a copy of the key. Just as the women are leaving the guard, Walleye pretends to snatch Polly's bag. They tell the guard to go after him but he doesn’t want to leave his post. Alice says she’ll let it be known to the captain that he was drinking on duty and so he goes after Walleye but gets knocked out in the alley. Walleye and Simon make sounds around the corner like there's a battle going on. Alice convinces the other guard to go and help his Friend and he gets knocked out as well. Robin and Pick enter Hastings House and Pick picks the lock on the vault. They find the cask containing the queen’s jewels. The guards recover as they are leaving and attack Robin and Pick. Robin drops the little chest in the fight but Pick grabs it and runs away. Later when Robin meets Little John in a tavern he laments how he trusted Pick but then an old woman peddler comes in with her wagon and asks if they want any crown jewels. It’s Pick in disguise.