Follow the Arrows

            On Thursday morning I finished working out the chords for “Le bras mécanique” (The Mechanical Arm) by Serge Gainsbourg and started posting it on Christian’s Translations.

            Around midday I went to Freshco. They’ve moved their social distancing line-up along the walkway at the front of the store rather than the back parking lock like they did last week. They’ve also added one-way aisle arrows like the ones I’d seen at the liquor store the day before. But at the LCBO the arrows are easier to take. I just come to the liquor store for one six-pack of Creemore and I know where to find it. But at5 the supermarket when one shops in an aisle one often might be looking for more than one thing and might need to double back. I don’t want to go all the way around again just because I passed the salt shelf. Actually I figured that once I’d gone down an aisle in the right direction I had the right to move either way. A lot of people were either ignoring or just didn’t see the arrows anyway.

            I bought five bags of grapes, some raspberries, a bunch of bananas, orange juice, soymilk, coffee, salsa, canned kidney beans, kettle chips and deodorant. I grabbed a bag of potatoes at the last minute while I was standing in line for the express cashier.

            I had three falafel balls and some French fries for lunch.

            I worked on one of the practice essays for Monday’s exam but mostly did research on the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which decreed that all land west of the Appellations would be crown land set aside for the use of Indigenous people. That proclamation was one of the factors that brought about the American Revolution because many colonists wanted to settle on those western lands.

            I sautéed two onions, added two cans of kidney beans, chilli paste, dried chillies and salsa. I had a bowl of the chilli with a bowl of potato chips while watching the last four Noggin the Nog stories.

            In the first story a small spherical spaceship lands in the new horse trough of Nog. Inside the ship is a large mouse. Queen Nooka makes friends with it and asks where it is from. It points at the Moon. The Moon Mouse takes Nooka to the market and selects some vinegar, oil and soap flakes. He pours the items into his ship and with a trail of bubbles flies back to the Moon.

            In the second story a turbaned man arrives from the south with a baby elephant as a gift for Prince Knut’s birthday. The baby elephant wears a coat covered in jewels. The baby elephant is very sad despite the kindness it receives from Knut and everyone else. Nogbad’s crows tell him about the baby elephant with the jewelled coat. Nogbad builds a large mechanical elephant and operates it from inside, causing it to walk to Noggin’s castle. The baby elephant thinks the big elephant is its mother and follows it towards Nogbad’s castle. But on the way the baby elephant stops to play in a pond and tries to pull what it thinks is its mother into the water. In doing so he pulls the false skin off of the mechanical elephant. The baby elephant chases and captures Nogbad, bringing him back to the castle where he is imprisoned. But the baby elephant is still sad and so Knut decides to take him back to his mother in the southland. Noggin just lets his son travel all the way to India by himself, so it’s not very realistic.

            In the third story Olaf the royal inventor invents money in the form of six copper disks with holes in the middle, but no one in Nog knows what to do with them. Everyone in Nog trades things they have for things that they need. The only one he can convince that money is a good idea is Thor Nogson and so Thor gives Olaf six onions for six copper pieces. But the royal cook had sent Thor to trade onions for eggs. When he comes back with the money she chases him away demanding eggs. He goes to the egg Nog but the egg Nog will not give him eggs for copper pieces. He says he wanted six onions but he will give him six eggs in exchange for something to mend his torn canvas cover. Thor goes to the blacksmith who tells him he will trade a brass pot for two fish. Thor meets a little boy who says he will trade three feathers and a bag of clothes pegs for a helmet with wings. Thor goes to the harbour and accidentally drops the copper pieces on a fisherman’s head. The fisherman says he can use the copper pieces for line weights and so he gives Thor two fish. Thor trades the fish for the brass pot, which he trades with the boy to use as a helmet in exchange for the clothes pegs, which he trades with the egg Nog because they can repair the canvas in exchange for six eggs, which he brings back to the royal cook. Thor then forces Olaf to give him back his onions and makes him promise to never invent money again.

            The last story was about a flock of sooty storks that come and make nests in the chimneys of the homes of Nog. But the people don’t like the storks because they clog the chimneys and fill their homes with smoke. They ask Noggin for permission to throw rocks at the storks in order to chase them away. But since Noggin is also king of the birds he does not want the storks to be hurt. Olaf the royal inventor is asked to come up with a solution but he can't think of anything until a little bird with a bell in its mouth leads him to the forest in which there is an old chalk quarry. Around the edge of the quarry are six old hollow oak trees. After thinking for a while he realizes what can be done. A furnace is built in the quarry with pipes leading into each oak tree so that each tree serves as a chimney. The storks immediately moved there to put their nests on top of the trees. The people would take turns stoking the furnace and everyone was happy from then on.