Billie Whitelaw

            On Thursday at around noon I plugged in the little clothes dryer in my kitchen that I haven't used in almost ten years to hear if it still made the loud banging noise when it was running. It did and so I started unbolting it from its stand.

I’d first gotten it along with a matching washer from Raven about twenty years ago when I helped her clear out her mother’s apartment after she died. The dryer stacked on top of the washer and they were quite convenient but the washer died after about five years. From then on I washed by clothing and bedding in the bathtub and dried them in the dryer until it started making that horrible noise.

I took the dryer off the stand and found it to be heavier than I remembered. The top was filthy and so I spent some time washing it and the stand. Then I dragged them both outside to the curb, hoping that a metal scavenger would come along and take them.

I rewashed my scarf and the two pairs of shorts that I'd washed the day before. When they were drying on the deck and got drenched in the rain storm on Wednesday they ended up with a mildewy odour.

I took a bike ride to Bloor and Yonge, then south to Queen and home. It was extremely hot out and I wasn’t riding in the shade until I turned onto Yonge. I notice that a lot more people are riding electric bicycles, especially the food delivery people. I wonder if their battery stays charged for a full shift. From what I’ve found online some of the big batteries can last six to eight hours but the heavier the battery the heavier the bike.

I stopped at Freshco on my way home and wore my scarf with the gold flowers for a face mask. I was the only one in the store without a conventional surgical mask.

I got two pints of strawberries, a half pint of raspberries, five bags of tube shaped black grapes, a whole chicken, a pack of drumsticks, two containers of Greek yogourt, and a box of spoon size shredded wheat.

My tank shirt was soaked with sweat when I got home and so I put it out on the deck to dry.

That evening no one had taken the dryer yet.

I grilled four pork chops and had one for dinner with potato chips and salsa. It was too hot to boil a potato and heat up gravy. I had dinner with a beer while watching two episodes of “The Adventures of Robin Hood”.

In the first story a Norman named Sir Blaise is financing the rebuilding of a ruined church with Walter the master mason in charge of the work. But Blaise has revisions to the plans that he wants Walter to implement. He insists that he come back to his castle to view the plans which involve turning the church into a fortress so Blaise can use it against his nearest neighbour Sir Roger, but Walter refuses to comply. Blaise imprisons Walter to force him to give in to his demands. Meanwhile Tuck brings Robin, Little John and Derwent to show them the church. Robin finds that Walter has left his own “W” mark on a block of stone but he has added Blaise’s mark of three lances attacking the “W”. Robin concludes that Walter is being held prisoner. They go to Blaise’s castle and see the window of a tower cell where Walter has placed his cloak as a signal. Robin climbs up to the bars and passes Walter his tools and a rope. Walter works on the flaws in the stone around the bars but hears Blaise coming and so he gets in bed. Blaise tells he will be leaving in the morning to engage another master mason and Walter can rot in his cell. Walter loosens a bar and escapes down the rope. Robin arranges to beat Blaise to the nearest masonic lodge and to warn the other masons who are bound by their trade to help each other. Walter makes Robin a speculative mason so he will be accepted. There is no record of speculative masons existing before 1500 but it’s possible. At the nearest masonic lodge Blaise is told that all the masons there are busy and so he would have to go to see Master Robert in Lincoln. But Master Robert is Robin Hood in disguise and this is all a delaying tactic to keep Blaise out of the picture while Walter and his men, with the help of Little John and Derwent, complete the church without Blaise’s revisions. Robin insists on payment as soon as they arrive at the church but when they get there the church is not only finished but a service has already begun to consecrate it. Blaise has to give up his plan and pay Robin fifty crowns.

In the second story Robin is lured into an ambush at the Blue Boar and his situation is dire until an unknown hooded archer appears and begins attacking the sheriff’s men. Together they send the soldiers running and in gratitude Robin invites his saviour to an outlaw dinner in the green wood. The stranger agrees and then reveals that she is a woman named Brenda. She says she ran away from home to escape an arranged marriage because she wants the one she weds to be her choice and she wants him to be a hero. Back at the camp Robin tells Brenda he will grant her any boon within his power in return for having saved his life. She asks to be made a member of the band. Robin is reluctant but puts it to a vote and all the men but he and Little John are for it. Soon it becomes clear why it’s not a good idea to have a pretty woman as a member of the outlaws. The men are too distracted and neglecting their duties. Robin approaches Brenda about the fact that her presence is causing competition but she tells Robin that the solution is simple: she and Robin will become married. Robin doesn’t want to hurt Brenda’s feelings and he can’t tell her about Marian. He says there is not priest but then suddenly Tuck shows up. In order to buy Robin time to solve this problem Tuck posts the marriage banns announcing the impending marriage. Marriage banns are required to be up three weeks before the wedding. Meanwhile Marian is on her way to see Robin when she is stopped on the road by Brenda. Marian is very surprised that Brenda is a member of Robin’s band. She reminds Brenda that Robin’s men do not rob women but Brenda argues that since she is a woman that rule should not apply to her. By the time Marian sees Robin she is quite upset and then becomes even more so when she sees the marriage bann posted on a tree. It takes a while for Robin to convince Marian that he doesn’t want to marry Brenda and that he has a plan which he needs Marian’s help to implement. Later Marian calls for Walter Neville, the young man with whom Brenda’s family had hoped she would marry. It turns out that he has always loved and wanted to marry Brenda but because their union had been considered a foregone conclusion since they were children he had never bothered to woo or court her. He says that now that she has disappeared he wishes he could change all that. Marian says she has reason to believe that Brenda has been captured by the outlaws of Sherwood. She takes him to the green wood near their headquarters. Meanwhile the men know that Walter is coming and they tell Brenda that she has one more test before she can be considered a member of the band. It’s the escape test and they tie her up just as Walter arrives. Walter draws his sword to rescue Brenda and Robin and his men all pretend to be easily defeated by him. They run away and as he unties Brenda she now sees him as a hero and asks him to marry her.

Brenda was played by Billie Whitelaw, who started working in radio at eleven, in theatre at eighteen and films at twenty one. She played the demonic nanny in “The Omen”. She is a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Samuel Beckett, with whom she worked for twenty five years, called her “a perfect actress”. She often acted out the parts as he was writing them.