Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Victoria Day Traditions



            On Monday I spent most of the day writing.
            In the late afternoon I took a bike ride. As I rode up Brock there were a lot of cop cars with sirens flashing and the fact that they were turning east on different streets suggested that they were trying to surround somebody. On Croatia, just south of Bloor there was a muscular man wearing a white tank shirt, on his knees with his hands cuffed behind him. He was calling out in a loud, clear voice, “Guys! Guys! Please! I am not resisting arrest! My name is …” I think he said it was Brian something. “Call my mother …” He gave her name and number and the last name was “Sousa” which would indicate that the guy was of Portuguese descent. “I should not be arrested!” At first I thought he was talking to the cops but I think he was very sensibly calling out to any witnesses to make his situation clear and in the hopes that someone would call his mother.
            There were a many more cyclists out on Victoria Day than there were the day before and a lot of people were just walking on Bloor Street, despite the fact that only restaurants and bars were open but no stores for shopping.
            I rode to Bexhill Avenue and Dawes Road. On the way back I stopped at the friendly Starbucks to pee. There were two sets of cops in there buying fancy drinks.
            I had expected a bike ride on Victoria Day to be quiet, but traffic-wise it was actually quite a loud and hectic day. There were also a shitload of motorcycles roaring around either individually or in packs and I wondered if there was some special biker event going on in the city that day, but I couldn’t find anything listed online. Maybe Victoria Day weekend is a traditional time for people to start riding their motorcycles again.
            That night I watched the 7th and 8th episodes of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
            At the beginning of the 7th episode Maynard showed up. Dobie asked how he could be there since he was supposed to be in the army. “They called it a hardship discharge.” “Whose hardship?” “The army’s.”
            Dobie is in love with a new girl named Pearl Arnold. Maynard is knocked over by her in the park and then when he looks up at her, in a breach of character, his heart his heart is knocked over and he falls in love with Pearl too. He tells Dobie he’s in love but doesn’t know what to do. Not realizing that Pearl is the object of Maynard’s affections he offers to help him win her. After finding out Maynard is in love with his girl, Dobie remembers his promise and decides to do the noble thing and break up with Pearl for Maynard. But Pearl sees what Dobie is doing and likes him all the more for it. Dobie starts trying to convince Pearl what a great guy Maynard is while Maynard argues how much better Dobie is. Pearl gets up to dance with someone else, explaining, “You fellas don’t need me! You’ve got each other!”
            The very pretty actor that played Pearl was Diane Jergens, who’s been married to singer songwriter Randy Sparks since 1962. She retired from acting at the time of her wedding. Sparks founded The New Christie Minstrels and wrote both “Today” and “Green Green”.
            The 8th episode was about Dobie and Maynard stealing a goat that was the mascot for a rival high school football team that always beats Dobie’s school, Central High. The idea was that the goat was good luck. The goatnapping was a success and all the girls were impressed with Dobie’s ingenuity, but the day of the game the other team was so mad that they beat Central even worse than before. All the girls were suddenly mad at Dobie.

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