On Saturday morning I still hadn’t quite
finished memorizing "Variations sur Marilou" by Serge Gainsbourg. I'm
getting closer but there are just a few lines that slither away from my mind.
The problem is that many lines are similar but different. It’s sort of like
meeting a family where everyone looks almost the same but not exactly. It would
be easier to remember everyone’s names if they looked different.
During
song practice I looked out my window and saw a city employee with an electric
grinder cutting a bike free from the cycle post across the street. I could see
in the back of his truck that he'd already gotten the vintage yellow CCM that
had been locked in front of my place for the last few months.
The
rain had broken the heat wave but it still felt too warm to wear more than a
tank shirt, shorts and sandals to the food bank. It was drizzling when I got
there at 9:40 but not enough to pull out my umbrella.
The
line was shorter than the week before, perhaps because of the weather. I stood
on the yellow heart for only about five minutes before they brought out the
cart with the milk cartons full of food.
For
the first time in weeks I kept most of what I was offered. The only things I
gave away were the cream of mushroom soup, the spaghetti and the three eggs. I
tend to only eat three eggs a week but lately it’s been zero because of the
extremely hot weather that made me want to avoid using the stove. I’ve
accumulated enough eggs over the last few weeks to not need any more for quite
a while.
What
I held onto were the box of organic wheat squares cereal; the can of red kidney
beans; the tin of tuna; the bag of milk; the two small containers of fruit
bottom yogourt; the two small individually wrapped butter croissants; four
frozen chicken legs; and the bag of brown, spiral buns. When I opened up the
latter later and smelled one of them it had the fragrance of pretzels and so I
guess these are German pretzel rolls.
There
was a cart in front of the door with vegetables and I got a butternut squash, a
zucchini, a pineapple and a bunch of greens that the volunteer said was mint. I
smelled them and said I didn’t think they were mint although they did have a
slightly minty fragrance. He picked up another bunch of greens from his cart,
sniffed them and then said that he must have given me the kale. He then handed
me what was definitely fresh mint. The kale must have smelled a bit like mint
because it had been lying next to the real thing.
This
was the best haul at the food bank in a long time and the chicken legs were an
especially good score.
I
was home by 10:00 and after putting my food away I headed out to the
supermarket. I was the only customer at No Frills wearing a train robber’s
scarf instead of a surgical mask on my face.
The
red grapes were very cheap and so I
got seven bags. I also bought a half pint of raspberries, mouthwash, two
containers of black cherry skyr and two bags of Miss Vickie’s chips. I noticed
the guy behind me at the checkout wasn't wearing a mask. I wondered if he was
bucking the rules or if he had a legitimate reason for not wearing a mask, such
as asthma. At the liquor store on Wednesday employees were extremely aggressive
about insisting that customers wear masks, but no one at No Frills said
anything to this guy.
I had a salami and cheese sandwich
with lettuce for lunch.
In the afternoon I skipped my
exercises and just wrote my Food Bank Adventure, which was much shorter than
usual.
I finished watching and listening to
the recordings of those of my songs that I do once every four days from the
recent seventeen days of recordings that I did.
I performed my song “Megaphor" five times but hit wrong chords in
places every time. I play this song better than three years ago but it’s still
not ready for uploading to YouTube.
I recorded my song “Calendar Girl” three times and I do it a lot better
than “Megaphor". I think the day that I bit my tongue while singing it
might have come through all right.
I did “Sixteen Tons of Dogma” four times and this is another one that's
better than three years ago but not ready for posting online.
I played “Love Song" four times and probably do it better than the
other three compositions. I think that one of the recordings of this song might
possibly be a keeper.
I scanned some negatives of shots of my daughter Astrid from the late
fall or early winter of 1993, playing in a park and some others from when I
took her to work with me.
I sliced the bottom from a loaf of whole grain bread and made pizza on
it with sauce, cheese and salami. I had it with a beer while watching two
episodes of Robin Hood.
In the first story Ned Dale has brought his son Will to meet Robin Hood
as a birthday present. Little John takes Ned and Will hunting but when John
sees a knight passing through the forest he decides to have some sport and
jumps him. But the victim turns out to be Sir Roger Fitzwilliam, the Black
Knight, just back from the crusade and one of the finest warriors in England.
He defeats both Little John and Ned and then grabs Will to take him home to his
mother. On the way however Roger stops to see the Sheriff of Nottingham, who he
asks to put a scare in the boy by briefly putting him in the dungeon before
taking him home. The sheriff proposes a swordmanship contest between Sir Roger
and Robin Hood with a thousand crown purse and says to leave it up to him how
he will persuade Robin to agree to the duel. Unbeknownst to Roger the sheriff
has not released Will from the dungeon and he uses him as bait in the note that
he sends to Robin Hood. The battle is to take place at the Saxon ruins on the
edge of Sherwood Forest and also without Roger’s knowledge the sheriff has
instructed his men to capture Robin Hood if he begins to gain the upper hand in
the duel. The fight is fairly equally matched but Roger gains first blood by
nicking Robin’s shoulder. Robin however later gains the advantage and the
soldiers move in. Being a chivalrous knight Sir Roger finds this unacceptable
and once he hears that the sheriff also used the boy as a hostage, Roger joins
Robin in fighting the sheriff and his men. They escape together to Sherwood.
Robin shares the thousand crowns with Roger and they help Will celebrate his
birthday.
In the second story the sheriff is upset that he doesn’t have enough
nice clothes. He doesn't think he dresses much better than the squire. He can't
levy any more taxes on the peasants because they have nothing left to give. He
decides to impose a protection fee on travelling merchants but he knows they
will not pay it just to be protected from Robin Hood and his men since they
only take half their purses. The sheriff a murderer and thief with no scruples
named Dick Banks. He offers him a pardon to put together a gang of men from
among the other prisoners and for them to pose as Robin’s outlaws, robbing
everyone on the road whether rich or poor. He says Dick can keep half the money
he steals and divide it up as he chooses. The gang begins its robberies and
Robin learns of them after Derwent observes them carrying out one of their
attacks. They not only rob everyone but they also severely beat them. Robin
learns that the preyed upon merchants have demanded a meeting with the sheriff
and he sends Tuck disguised as a merchant to spy on the meeting. After Tuck’s
report Robin figures that the other outlaws must be prisoners. He goes to their
campsite, introducing himself as a fellow prisoner having been offered a
pardon. He tells them it would be illogical for the sheriff to give them all
pardons because he wouldn’t be able to stop them from talking and thereby
incriminating him. Dick shows up and Robin reveals himself as Robin Hood. He
tells the others that Dick probably already has a pardon in his pocket and that
he plans to turn them all back in. Dick attacks Robin and they have a knife
fight but when Robin knocks Dick down he falls on his own knife. Robin offers
the men the chance to join his band and they accept.
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