Patricia Driscoll

            On Sunday morning I finally finished memorizing “Variations sur Marilou” by Serge Gainsbourg. I still hadn’t learned it in the allotted hour but I pushed it for an extra ten minutes and nailed it.

            I had planned on cleaning a bit more of my kitchen floor today but by the time I’d finished the dishes it was almost lunch time. I'll probably have time on Monday.

            I had the last of my salami in a sandwich with cheese and lettuce for lunch.

            I tried to take a siesta in the early afternoon but I couldn’t sleep and so I got up after about forty minutes.

            I spent a couple of hours researching U of T courses since Monday morning at 10:15 would be my start time for enrolment. Because I've transferred from being an English Major to and English Specialist I have to follow the requirements of the year that I start a program. It looks like I’ll have to start with category 1 and the second year half courses Introduction to British Literature part one in September and part two in January. The other two half courses required in that category are Introduction to Canadian Literature and Introduction to American Literature. I had thought that I was almost done and was thinking of taking only one credit a year until I got my degree. But I still need at least five more credits and so I’d better continue doing one and a half credits a year if I want to finish in a reasonable amount of time. In that case I’ll enrol in Intro to Can Lit on Monday as well.

            I watched all of the recordings I made of “Le serpent qui danse” and my translation, "The Dancing Snake". I think that I can find one of each that I would upload to YouTube.

            I took another lengthwise slice out of the frozen loaf of multigrain bread, added sauce and cheese and made a small pizza. I had it with a beer while watching two episodes of The Adventures of Robin Hood. In the first story the crops surrounding the village of Lothan have been hit by the black rot. One of the children has already died of malnutrition and the lord of the land is too cruel to help them. They’ve heard that in far away Sherwood Forest there is a man named Robin Hood who helps the poor. The only man in the village without a wife is Andrew and even though it is illegal for him to leave his lord’s property without permission he takes his horse and wagon and makes the journey. On the way he meets Friar Tuck who tells him to wait for Robin at the Blue Boar. Robin arrives and gives Andrew money to buy grain. There just happens to be a freeman farmer named Hodges with his daughter Margaret at the inn. Hodges agrees to sell some of his grain to Andrew and Margaret suggests that they let him stay with them for the night. We learn that Margaret is looking for a husband and seems to have concluded from the start that Andrew is the one she wants. She has misunderstood however that Andrew is a freemen, since he was able to travel and because he has money to buy grain. Hodges is a former serf of Sir Richard of the Lee who we’ve seen in several episodes of this series. Unlike most lords Sir Richard made it easy for Hodges to become a freeman. Hodges offers Andrew his daughter’s hand. Margaret comes on very strong, telling Andrew she wants to be his wife and kissing him. The next day after Andrew’s wagon is loaded he confesses to Margaret that he is a serf. She says he could buy his freedom but Andrew says his lord has set the price of freedom at ten silver marks which his more than he will see in his lifetime. He tells her that it would be impossible for him to return to her. Andrew is stopped on the way home by the lardner to the Earl of Rutland. He says that although the earl has plenty of meat there is a shortage of bread due to the famine. He will pay almost anything for Andrew’s grain. He starts at offering five silver marks and ups the price whenever Andrew refuses. As the amount approaches the ten silver marks that would allow him to marry Margaret he hesitates a little more.  When it reaches ten he does not say no but he is too weak to stop the lardner from taking the reigns and turning the cart around. Meanwhile Robin and Little John have killed two deer and decide they will donate them to the people of Lothan. They cut through the woods hoping to intercept Andrew but when they reach the road they see his cart going the wrong way. They catch up, stop the cart and send the lardner away. Andrew is ashamed for his behaviour. Robin, Little John and Tuck escort the cart. Meanwhile the lardner has told the earl’s soldiers about the grain and they attack. Neither Robin nor Little John came with full quivers and although they take out a few soldiers they run out of arrows. One of the dead soldiers not far from where they are barricaded had a full quiver. Andrew runs out in the open to retrieve it but while returning he is shot in the back. He makes it back with the shafts before losing consciousness. He wakes up in the Hodges home with Robin telling him that he saved his life and that the grain has been distributed in Lothan. He also learns that Hodge has paid the ten silver marks to his lord and that he is now free to marry Margaret.

            Sir Jack of Southwark comes to Nottingham from the Holy Land to woo Lady Marian and to become lord of Fitzwalter manor. He has the permission of Marian’s father whose life he saved in the Crusade. Neither Robin nor the sheriff are happy with Jack's presence because they both care for Marian but the sheriff has additional reasons because Jack is faithful to King Richard. The sheriff arranges for Jack to be ambushed by his captain and two soldier. Robin happens to witness the attack and he helps Jack to chase them away, although Jack says he could have done it alone. He informs Robin that he plans to marry Marian. Robin tells him that he knows that Marian is secretly betrothed to a man named Locksley. Jack tells Robin that he’ll take care of Locksley and win Marian because in love and war he never fights fair. Jack begins charming Marian by teaching her the latest court dances. Meanwhile the sheriff learns that one of his soldiers was killed while ambushing Jack and so he orders Jack arrested for murder. Robin comes to see Marian and runs into Jack, who learns that Robin is really the Locksley he’d spoken of. Jack tells Robin to draw his sword and then pretends when Marian appears that Robin has stabbed him. As Marian takes Jack inside to bind his wound Jack whispers to Robin that he’d told him he never fights fair. Later Marian learns that the sheriff has gone to arrest Jack at the Blue Boar and asks Robin to warn him. Jack is sure that Robin is trying to trick him and when he tries to leave Robin stops him. They draw swords and fight until Marian stops them and says the sheriff is coming. Jack insists that Robin take Marian to safety while he fights the soldiers. Robin sneaks around and chases the sheriff’s horses away and then he comes in and helps Jack. They escape together on Jack’s horse with the sheriff unable to give chase. Jack offers to join Robin's band but Robin says Sherwood isn't big enough for the both of them.

            Marian in the third and fourth season of Robin Hood was played by Patricia Driscoll, who attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was only in about five films in the 1950s but she performed on several TV shows before and after Robin Hood and was the announcer of the Picture Book segment of the children’s show “Watch With Mother”.