Mop

            On Thursday morning I finished memorizing “La poupée qui fait pipi" (The Poppet that makes Peepee) by Serge Gainsbourg and started looking for the chords. I doubted however that anyone has posted the chords for this song.

            Now that school is over for a month I can return to my floor-cleaning project. I washed, brushed and scraped the plaster and paint from a section of west side of my bedroom floor.

            Just after noon I rode down to Freshco where I bought three bags of black grapes, a half pint of raspberries, a loaf of Bavarian sandwich bread, a brick of cheap cheddar for cooking, some soft cream cheese, some Greek yogourt that was cheaper than I’ve ever seen it, perhaps because the containers are dented and finally I got a jug of vinegar.

            On the way home I stopped at Home Hardware to look at mops. I’ve found that now that we have winter weather I’ve been tracking dirt all over the sections of my floors that I’ve meticulously cleaned on my hands and knees. Since I can't get out of the habit of keeping my boots on for the first few minutes when I come home I need to start quickly mopping my floor to keep it clean in between scrub sessions. I bought a couple of old fashioned cotton mops, one for mopping and one for drying. The store calls them yacht mops. We called them mops. They are the cheapest kind and I got both for under $15.

            As I was unlocking my bike a woman said hi to me and it was poet and dancer Naomi, who I used to see a lot at The Yellow Door open stage and sometimes at Fat Albert’s. She said she was going to the Common Sort second hand clothing store. She reminded me that Fat Albert’s would be having its potluck dinner on December 19. I told her that I would start going out to perform again once I’ve published my book.

            I had a chicken drumstick and some yogourt for lunch.

            In the afternoon I did my exercises while listening to Amos and Andy. In this story Sapphire is upset about Kingfish not having a job and never looking for one. They go on a radio show for couples with marital problems but the argument they have on the air makes Sapphire decide it's over. They also both say that Andy Brown is a bum on the radio and so Andy wants to sue Kingfish until he finds out that it wasn’t a national broadcast and he’s okay with just being a local bum. They try a marriage vacation and Sapphire even tells Kingfish he can go on dates with other women so as to learn to appreciate her. Kingfish can't get a date from many of his old girlfriends and doesn’t want one with other s when he finds out one has a son bigger than him now. Andy tells Kingfish about a marriage counsellor by mail named Professor Hotchkiss and he gives him the post office box. A few days later Andy is at the Stevens household for dinner and the atmosphere is peaceful and happy. Sapphire confesses that she found the address of Professor Hotchkiss in Kingfish’s pocket and wrote to him. Everything has been fine since she took his advice. Kingfish confesses that he let the address in his pocket because he knew Sapphire was going to find it. Andy confesses that he is Professor Hotchkiss. 

            The Delta Rhythm Boys sang “Managua Nicaragua”.

                                       

            I got caught up on my journal.

            When I started making dinner I realized that I’d forgotten to buy potatoes at the supermarket but I had some frozen potato wedges and so I had a few of those with two drumsticks and gravy while watching Zorro.

            This story begins with Raquel going to the inn and presenting an eagle feather to Quintana. She tells him that from now on he will be taking orders from her. She asks for the whereabouts of the gunpowder that was smuggled into the pueblo. Quintano confesses that it was intercepted and stolen by Zorro. She convinces Sgt Garcia to comb the hills looking for Zorro without telling him about the gunpowder. Zorro and Bernardo are just hiding the kegs in the bushes when they see the soldiers. Zorro instructs his horse Tornado to lead Garcia away. Garcia captures Tornado and brings him back to the pueblo. Don Diego comes to chat with Garcia and when he is not looking gives Tornado some hand signals to instruct him to not behave as if he knows him. But from the window of the commandant’s office Enrique, the bartender at the inn and another Eagle agent, sees Diego using the hand gestures. Raquel is at her husband’s desk going through his records to try to figure out who Zorro could be. She dismisses Enrique’s suggestion that Don Diego might be Zorro. She agrees on a plan however to use Diego to capture Zorro and if Zorro does not come then Diego must be him. Diego is knocked out, dressed in a bad Zorro costume and put in a cell. The soldiers are on the roof waiting for Zorro to arrive. Garcia is guarding the cell but has fallen asleep. Diego calls for Tornado and instructs him to lift the keys from Garcia’s belt and pass them to him. Diego puts on the Zorro costume, takes Garcia’s swords and then wakes him up from behind with the sword poking his back. He tells him that he has already released Diego and now instructs Garcia to open the gate for him. But a soldier lassos him from the roof and only Tornado gets out through the gate. Zorro has to fight his way to the roof and then go over the wall.