Conquering the East

            On Thursday morning I felt like I was still breathing plaster dust after sanding the day before. Later on I wiped down the surface with a damp cloth.

I made a slight adjustment in my translation of “Bourrée de complexes” (Buried in Complexes) by Boris Vian. There was a reference to Marie being involved with an withered and faded poppy and at first I thought it referred to her husband but the lyrics also state that he is a young man. I figured that it must be the marriage itself that is faded and so I changed the lyrics to fit that.

            I finished working out the chords for Marilou sous la neige” (Marilou Under Snow) by Serge Gainsbourg and ran through the song in French and English.

            At around midday I washed and scrubbed another section of the kitchen floor, pretty much in the middle as I make my way east. This was a particularly black part of the room and there was a part with a lot of glue to scrape up.

            I had cucumber sticks with ranch dip for lunch.

            In the afternoon I skipped my exercises to take my bike ride a little early so I could stop at Freshco on my way home. After riding to Bloor and Yonge and back along Queen, I’d just arrived at the supermarket and I was looking at the Ontario peaches when someone called me byname. It was Mark Critoph, whom I hadn’t seen in years. Since I didn’t get home until 19:00 when I would normally have gotten back before 18:00, I must have chatted with him for at least an hour. We each got caught up on what the other has been doing. He’s made hundreds of paintings and even wrote a novel but has yet to do a show or get the book published. His daughter, whom I never met, is seventeen now and struggling with finishing high school. We conversed on a wide range of topics before elbow bumping and saying we’d have a beer when the pandemic is over.

            I had a potato, some steamed bok choy and the last of my steaks with gravy while watching the last two episodes of “The Adventures of Robin Hood”.

            In the first story Friar Tuck is arrested while walking to prepare the shrine of Saint Cedric for the special sermon he will be giving the next day. The sheriff’s men give no reason for taking Tuck into custody but when he arrives at the deputy sheriff’s office he meets his identical twin brother Edgar. The deputy forces Tuck to change clothes with Edgar and Edgar’s mission is to confess while posing as his brother that he is in league with Robin Hood and so is Lady Marian. Edgar goes to the shrine to perform Tuck’s duties but meanwhile Marian is out riding when she is thrown from her horse and injures her wrist. Will Scarlet seeks out Tuck because he has some knowledge about treating such injuries and so Edgar, in order to keep up the pretence of his disguise, is forced to come along. Robin is immediately puzzled that Tuck seems to have lost much of his medical expertise and when they later dine Edgar has a coughing fit to cover the fact that he does not know the Latin grace. Robin insists that Tuck stay the night at their camp. Meanwhile a message comes in that the deputy sheriff is in Sherwood Forest. The deputy meets with the bishop to escort him but suddenly Robin arrives and captures the sheriff and the bishop. Robin assures the bishop that no harm will come to him but that they must bring him back to their camp. The bishop’s reaction is that the whole affair is a delightful adventure for him. When the bishop sees what looks like Tuck at the camp he asks him why he is there and Edgar says that he came to repair Lady Marian’s broken wrist but that he has been there on many occasions in the past. Robin challenges Edgar to name the last time he came to the camp but of course he can’t. Robin also suggests that the sheriff visit this “Lady what’s her name” and ask her if she’s ever had a broken wrist since no lady ever came to his camp with one. Robin then asks the bishop if any friar should be able to recite the Latin grace. The bishop confirms that this is so. Robin then challenges the man claiming to be Tuck to recite the grace but he says he’s forgotten. Robin declares that the man is an impostor and the bishop asks the man to swear that he is or is not Friar Tuck. Finally Edgar breaks down and confesses his true identity and says that Tuck is in the sheriff’s dungeon. The deputy says that if one of his men has imprisoned Tuck he will suffer for it. Later after Tuck is freed Robin says that he began to have his suspicions when Edgar had claimed that Marian’s wrist was broken when anyone with much less knowledge than Tuck would know that it was only sprained.

            In the final story Robin is returning to Sherwood from another town when he runs across a fence on the king’s land. A man arrives who asks Robin if he built it when another hits Robin from behind. Robin wakes in a cell and learns he is about to stand trial for an unknown charge. Meanwhile back at the outlaw camp Robin is a day late returning. Marian decides to disguise herself as a serving girl and to travel along the same trail that Robin should have taken to return. When she reaches the fence she is also arrested. Robin is placed before the manorial court of Sir Hugo de Basque and is charged with trespassing. The two men that captured Robin offer testimony that Robin was on Hugo’s land. Hugo charges Robin ten marks fine but since he only has four marks he will have to work off the rest of the fine with six years of labour. Robin says he has the money in his boot but then he attacks the men and is about to escape through the window when he sees Marian being led in and he surrenders. Robin is sentenced to death and sent back to his cell while Marian is sentenced to work. Because Hugo finds her pretty he says she can work and sleep in the kitchen. Later Robin convinces Sir Hugo that since his men did not fight as well as him, instead of executing him he should hire him as a soldier. So Robin goes out on patrol with the other two men and they see the sheriff’s lieutenant ride up to investigate the fence. Robin shoots an arrow into the soldier’s saddle and he rides away. He shows the arrow to the deputy who recognizes the flight design as that of Robin Hood. The deputy and the lieutenant ride to Hugo’s estate and confront him about the arrow. While Hugo is trying to suggest that the deputy search the other estates for Robin Hood while he searches his own an arrow hits the table and Robin is standing in the window. When the men get up to fight Robin says, “Look to the door”. A crossbow is pointing at them through the partially open door but those inside can’t see that Marian is holding it. Robin says he needs Hugo to write a safe conduct for him to leave the castle without being shot. The deputy demands that he write the order. Robin has the lieutenant tie up the deputy and Hugo, then Robin ties up the lieutenant and he and Marian escape.

            This was a great TV series and it was groundbreaking in the UK because it was the first British show to become a hit in the United States. It was also the first successful British show not produced by the BBC.