Dorinda Stevens

            On Saturday morning it was so cold that I wore my socks during yoga and had the oven on during song practice. 

            I finished posting my translation of “Barcelone” by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the first verse of “Tennisman” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            Around midday I headed out to the supermarket but on the way I stopped into the Vina pharmacy to see if they had ear syringes. They do, and they’re the same brand as my old one but they're one third the size. I wanted the kind I’m used to so I rode over to Guardian, which was where I bought the other one but was surprised to see that the place has gone out of business. There was a guy sleeping in the sheltered entrance and an empty sleeping bag at the exit. I wonder if he goes to sleep in one bag and wakes up in the other. 

            I went back to Vina and got the tiny rubber bulb. I asked the clerk if he knew where the post office was going to be now that Guardian is gone and I was pleased to hear that the post office will be moving to Vina next month. That’s great because I’ll need to send something to my daughter in two months. 

            At No Frills I bought four bags of grapes, dishwashing liquid, olive oil and Greek yogourt.

            I worked a few hours on my translation from Middle English of the description of the Green Knight in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Tomorrow’s the last day of my extension so I’ll have to finish the translation and then start and finish the essay. Here’s what I got done before dinner:

            

            His well haled hose were the same 

            That shrunk tight to his shins with comely spurs below 

            Of bright gold on silk bands richly embroidered

            And shoeless under shanks where he rides his cheval 

            And all his vestment verily was pure verdure 

            Both the bars of his belt and other blithe stones 

            That were richly arranged in radiant array 

            In silk work about himself and his saddle 

            T’would be too tough for to tell of half the trifles 

            embroidered above with birds and butterflies 

            with gay gaudies of green each in the middle of gold 

            The pendants of his strapping, the proud crupper, 

            his mullen, and all the enamelled metal was thus 

            the stirrups he stood on were stained of the same 

            and his saddle arch all after and his atheling skirts

            that ever glimmered and glinted all full of green stones 

            the foal that he fit on fern hued of that ilk 

                                    certain

                        A green horse great and thick 

                        A steed full strong to restrain 

                        that battled the bridle quick 

                        but his rider held him in rein 

            Well gay was this guy geared in green 

            and the hair on his head well suited his horse 

            Fair fanning fax enfolded his shoulders 

            A beard big as a bush hung over his breast 

            That was reached by his handsome hair from his head

            It was edged all around above his elbows 

            So the top half of his arms were hid in the way 

            Of a king's hooded cape that covered his neck 

            The mane of that man’s horse was much like it 

            Well curled and combed with full many knots 

            Folded in with fine gold thread about the fair green 

            Always a herl of the hair and another of gold 

            The tail and his topping were twined in the same suit 

             And bound both with a band of bright green 

            Dubbed with dear costing stones to the end of the dock 

             And then thrawed with a thong in a twirl-knot aloft 

            On which many bright bells full bright of burnished gold rang 

            I used the last lengthwise slice of a loaf of whole grain bread as pizza crust. I added garlic and onion sauce and cheddar and put it in the oven for half an hour. I had it with a beer while watching Interpol Calling. 

            The story begins with a man in a trench coat, hat and glasses picking up a package from an airport shipping office. The clerk notes that he always picks it up five minutes after it was unloaded from the plane. He drives the package to a pond and dumps it. Meanwhile a new drug at that time called tetracycline is being stolen out of shipments from the States and sold on the black market to turn up in developing countries. Moray finds that the only recent shipments of the drug have been to the World Health Organization in Sweden. Duval goes there, opens some of the packages and finds little bottles of water. Duval arranges for the next shipment from the States to be watched every step of the way. But when the package arrives it contains only water. Moray studies the routes from the States and to the black markets and determines that the packages must be diverted from the Stockholm flight when it stops in London. Duval finds that someone is switching the labels of identical packages containing water and tetracycline and pins it down to one plane. Duval interviews the shipping Clerk at London airport and gets a description of the man picking up the packages. They cross reference his description with those of the air crew and determine that the most possible suspect is Adams the co-pilot. Adams is followed and caught trying to pick up the package he tries to get away but is arrested. He asks what is wrong with distributing a life saving drug around the world that would otherwise be sitting on shelves in Sweden. Duval tells him that recently the WHO used most of their supply to save lives threatened by an epidemic in a developing country. He tells Adams that he should be charged with murder for limiting the supply. 

            Helen, the flight attendant on Adams’s plane was played by Dorinda Stevens, who co-starred in mostly British B movies and had guests spots on British TV series. Her last film was Night Train to Paris with Leslie Nielson. She retired from acting at the age of 33.