Betty Lynn

            On Sunday morning I finished memorizing “Exercise en forme de Z” by Serge Gainsbourg. I looked for the chords and was a little surprised that no one had posted them since this is on Jane Birkin’s "Best of" album. On Monday I’ll start working them out for myself.

            I started trying to read “The Natural History of German Life” by George Eliot, but I got sleepy so I took a siesta at noon, two hours earlier than usual. 

            When I got up at 13:30 I had cranberry crackers and old cheddar with orange juice for lunch.

            Since I’d slept earlier my bike ride wasn’t as late as usual. I rode all the way to Yonge Street for the first time since September. Even from Gerrard I could hear a guy preaching through a microphone at the corner of Dundas and Yonge. I know he was speaking English but he had such a heavy African accent and was speaking so quickly that I could barely understand anything he said besides “Hallelujah". At the other corner there was someone else playing Christian music through a very loud sound system. A male singer with a deep voice was chanting, "He touched me". 

            I was surprised to see that there was skating at Nathan Philip’s Square during the pandemic. I looked it up and found that all the indoor rinks are closed and outdoor rinks like the one at Toronto City Hall are only accessible by reservation, with a maximum of twenty five skaters allowed. 

            I read “The Natural History of German Life” by George Eliot. It’s an essay about a book by a German author named Riehl on the various cultures of the German peasantry. He says modernization and even socialism should take into account the importance of the peasant class as a distinct culture and not try to create a classless society. I don’t quite understand why this essay is in the required reading of a British Literature course. 

            I read “Ulysses" by Tennyson a couple of times. I think I'd read it before. Ulysses is old and wants to go sailing with his mates again even though he still has a wife and a kingdom. 

            I made bread pizza with basil pesto, french fries and cheddar. I found the pesto taste a little strong but I had it with a beer while watching Andy Griffith. 

            In this story Barney is having trouble overcoming his shyness with his new girlfriend Thelma Lou. He tells Andy what he would say to her if she could, that she's "the cats" and so Andy decides to go and tell Thelma Lou what Barney wants to say to her. Thelma Lou however decides to use Andy’s visit to try to make Barney jealous enough to come around. But Barney is so upset at Andy because he thinks he tried to steal his girl that he tries to do the same thing to Andy. He goes to Ellie and comes on to her. She rejects him but later she tells Andy that she thinks that she and he should actually make moves on Barney and Thelma Lou in order to chase them into each other’s arms. Unrealistically, it works. 

            Thelma Lou is played by Betty Lynn and she becomes known from this point on by the viewing public as Barney’s girlfriend. So much so that when Barney left the show to pursue a film career, she left as well. Betty performed on Broadway as a young teen, played an important supporting role as a teenager in “June Bride", and similar parts in “Mother Was a Freshman", “Father Was a Fullback" and “Cheaper by the Dozen”. She later played Andy Griffith's secretary in Matlock. She retired to Mount Airy, North Carolina, which is the real life inspiration for Mayberry. She is in an assisted living facility there but every third Friday she appears in town to sign autographs.