Tag Archives: robin hood

Tuesday 8th July 2025 – I DON’T KNOW …

… what happened to me, but twice, once in mid-afternoon and once in the early evening, I’ve had a major dizzy spell and I’ve had to hang on to something to stop me falling over.

It’s not the usual kind of light-headed dizzy spell that people have now and again, but a couple of really serious attacks that took several minutes to pass. So what’s happening here then?

It can’t be over-tiredness because I had another good Sleep of the Dead last night. I was in bed by 23:30 and there I slept, all the way through without moving, until the alarm went off at 06:30, miserable failure that I am. How many times is that now that I’ve failed to beat the alarm?

When I finally awoke I was in the middle of a voyage somewhere but it evaporated immediately and I can’t remember a thing about it. It took a few minutes to gather my wits, which is a surprise seeing how few I have these days, and then I went for a stagger into the bathroom to sort myself out.

In the kitchen I sorted out my medication and had a very leisurely start to the day. I didn’t really feel like doing all that much, for some reason and I’m really going to have to motivate myself much better than this.

Back in here, I had a listen to the dictaphone to find out what happened during the night. At some point I had thought that I’d heard the alarm go off so I left the bed and began to prepare myself for the day. No-one was more surprised than me when I awoke a couple of minutes later to find that I was still in bed and I’d been asleep. I was really surprised by that because I was definitely convinced that I’d left the bed.

And to tell the truth, I can’t even remember awakening and finding myself back in bed so I’ve no idea at all what was happening there.

The nurse breezed in this morning, fairly early, and didn’t stay about for long, so I could make a bright start with my breakfast and read MY BOOK.

Today we’ve had a story about a certain “Robin Hoode” dated to the early years of the reign of Henry VIII, a story that I have certainly never heard before, and also an account of the 20:00 curfew that William the Conqueror imposed upon his subjects in his new realm, and how much chaos was caused when Henry I relaxed it.

There’s also a very lengthy and interesting description of the origins of the Lord Mayor of London’s parade.

In fact, the more that I read of this book, the more interesting it becomes.

After breakfast I began to tidy the kitchen and a whole heap of stuff that had been lying around since the Dawn of Time found its way into the rubbish bins, with probably plenty more besides. It certainly looks much better now and there also seems to be more room in there.

Back in here later, I carried on with the editing of the radio notes for the “Friday Woodstock” programme, and by the time that I’d finished this evening, they were all edited, the programme had been assembled and I’d even managed to do the first editing.

To make the programme as I wanted it to be, it ended up being two minutes and forty-five seconds short so I swapped out one song for another and rewrote a couple of the notes. That should bring it up to something like what I want, and then I can start on Saturday’s.

Saturday’s is going to be rather complicated as there will be so much to cut out. The music is well over an hour, never mind any commentary. That looks as if it might run to well over twelve minutes.

There was an interruption too. The estate agents rang me, asking if they could come to perform an energy survey on the apartment. We agreed that they could come on Friday 1st August in the afternoon.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve had a couple of these strange attacks and I’ve no idea what’s happening here. I’m probably adding another medical complication to the long list that I already have.

Tea was rushed tonight. It should have been a taco roll with rice but the tacos were looking definitely the worse for wear so it ended up being a curry with rice instead.

It was rushed because there was football on the internet, TNS v Shkendija in the Champions League. However, this time I couldn’t seem to manage to pass my way through the firewall. In the end, I had to watch an Artificial Intelligence simulation of the game, but it’s hardly the same thing.

So now, I’m going to go to bed and ponder upon these new health issues. The kitchen fitter starts tomorrow too, so I have to be on form. It’s not the time to be having any more health issues.

But seeing as we have been talking about Robin Hood … "well, one of us has" – ed … one day Robin Hood is walking through the forest and meets a poor beggar
"I am Robin Hood" he said. "I rob from the rich and give to the poor. Have this bag of gold." And he tosses a bag of gold at the beggar
The beggar looks at the bag and counts the gold. "This is more money than I have ever had in my life" he exclaims. "For once in my life, I’m really, really rich."
"What did you just say?" asks Robin Hood, drawing his sword

Wednesday 29th September 2010 part II – WELL, HERE I AM.

embassy motel kitchener ontario canadaIn a motel on the edge of the town of Kitchener in Ontario. $62 plus taxes and you don’t get much for your money.

But having been into the city, tried unsuccessfully to withdraw cash at three banks with three different bank cards and missing my way back to the motorway, I was ready for a good sleep. Mainly because I hadn’t had one on the plane.

Some blasted infant started to scream the moment the plane took off from Zurich and didn’t stop until we landed at Toronto. And at one time it was screaming so much that it gave itself a nosebleed. I was thoroughly fed up with that.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been up, showered, dressed and breakfasted before 08:00 – I’ll tell you that. And up before the alarm as well. Well, breakfasted after a fashion with the rest of the biscuits from my bag – and no coffee either. With the prices that they were charging I’d need a mortgage for that.

And on the airport shuttle bus some American got on board with two of the biggest suitcases I had ever seen, even bigger than mine – while his wife stood and watched him. I couldn’t resist it –
“Wouldn’t it have been easier just to buy the kids a ticket?” I asked him.

And as the bus pulled in to Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2 his wife stood and watched as he struggled one of the suitcases off. And he had to hurry to take the second one off before the bus pulled off to the next terminal. If she had been my wife she would have had a smack in the mouth by now. It wasn’t so much the standing and watching that did it for me – she may well have been disabled or something, you can never tell, but it was the way that she was harassing him while he was trying to do it.

Once inside the airport we are subjected to what can only be called "Skyway Robbery". I’d already lost some dosh in a vending machine at the entrance and it took me ages of wandering around the concourse before I found some nice friendly woman with a coffee trolley who sold me a nice cup of hot steaming strong coffee for a very respectable €1:70. Yes, it can be done, but you need to persevere.

The final words that I gave to Strawberry Moose
before we parted were
“Are you going to be all right, stowed away in the suitcase?”
“Just bung me a bottle of whisky” he said “and I’ll be absolutely fine”
“Badger off!” I exclaimed. “I know you! We won’t be halfway across the Atlantic before you start singing bawdy songs”
“Once we’are halfway over the Atlantic it won’t really matter. They aren’t going to stop in mid-air to search the baggage now, are they?”

airbus 320 swissair paris charles de gaulle france zurich switzerlandHe did ask me though if we were flying by Lear Jet but I did explain that it’s spelt L-E-A-R.And in any case, it was a nice, comfortable Airbus 320 that took us over to Zurich.

My only complaint was that there was nothing for me to eat. somehow my request for a vegan meal doesn’t apply to snacks served on short-haul flights.

air canada boeing 777 zurich airport toronto ontario canadaThey said that out plane from Zurich to Toronto was a Boeing 777. Mnd you, it looked more like a 767 to me but I suppose that they ought to know.

And as we flew over Greenland I had my vegan meal. Couscous and roasted vegetables. Not as nice as Liz’s but then again, nothing is.

But you missed all of the excitement. When we were at about 20,000 feet we had the safety announcement. And one of the things that they said was “if you are sitting by an emergency door you must be able to open it”. And I didn’t see the point of that – they didn’t half yell at me when I tried.

air canada flight overtaking thomas cook flight mid atlantic oceanAs well as that, we had another exciting incident. I always understood that there had to be a good vertical and horizontal clearance between two planes on the same course ever since those two airliners collided over the Grand Canyon years ago.

But there’s not much in the way of separation between us and this Thomas Cook flight that we overtook in mid-Atlantic.

But that’s enough of that. I remained inconspicuous for the rest of the flight with my head down. And at least the skriking infant drowned out the bawdy songs coming from the hold.

air canada boeing 777 coming into land lester b pearson airport toronto ontario canadaWe made it in one piece as far as Toronto where the screaming brat finally shut up. I’d made the most of the journey by watching a couple of Hopalong Cassidy films and the new Robin Hood. At least the headphones kept out the screaming.

And the queue into the country was miles long. Half a dozen flights from Europe had come in at the same time as, as usual, the airport wasn’t prepared for them

chrysler pt cruiser casey lester b pearson airport toronto ontario canadaBut good fortune followed me to the car hire place.

They didn’t have a compact car so they offered me an upgrade. After much negotiation we settled on a Chrysler PT Cruiser. Ive always loved these vehicles, ever since they first came out. They reminded me very much of the Ford Anglias and Prefects that my father had when we were kids. And it’s been a lifetime ambition to drive on. So I was more-than-happy with this.

driving into the sunset, going west you might say, from Toronto Ontario CanadaAnd so in my Chrysler PT Cruiser which I have named Casey (check his numberplate) Strawberry Moose and I head off into the sunset – going west you might well say, along the motorway in the general direction of Windsor, Ontario.

I’m looking for a cash point and then I’ll be looking for a motel. I won’t be doing all of the trip tonight. I’m thoroughly exhausted after the events of today.