'as afterthought'

'as afterthought just this: I went to madame eisner, she was still tired and marked by her illness. someone must have told her on the phone that I had come on foot, I didn’t want to mention it. I was embarrassed and placed my smarting legs up on a second armchair, which she pushed over to me. in the embarrassment a thought passed through my head, and, since the situation was strange anyway, I told it to her. together, I said, we shall boil fire and stop fish. then she looked at me and smiled very delicately...' 

herzog has done it. he has walked all the way from munich to paris. lotte eisner has been saved. 

perhaps the two things are unrelated. perhaps not. 

on this day in 1974 they meet. 

here (again) horsemouth finds the translation just a little clunky in close up. the english phrase is as an afterthought - but this is a bit casual, but it would  obviate the need for the just this. 

not that he is moaning you understand, the clunkiness is part of its beauty. 

'as afterthought' liberates and generalises the thought. 'just this' particularises it once again. 

horsemouth will have to return to the guidance of his usual diaries. 

horsemouth has moved the box of his diaries into his room (the outside of the box was going mouldy in the garage). it's not like they're full of genius writing (mostly work bookings, scribbles and a few quotes) but still. 

there are two larger format diaries that are shoved in a bag somewhere/ have not yet come to light/ have been disposed of. 

it makes him worry about his books and his records and his CDs (he will go and check again).  

'never tamper with library books... it's bad karma' 

last night horsemouth and howard did their usual saturday zoom beers session (two beers) - lots of references to withnail and  I and then a storytelling competition (horsemouth's squat tales versus boston council estate madness). horsemouth took a while to get going (he really has no memory). 

red sky in the morning (sailor's warning)

very beautiful but not very light. 

'UFOs appear over takoma...' (saltflower)

'walked all night long, paris perimeter.. a farmhouse was in the background, also a clothesline between a couple of rotting posts, and fixed to it were clothespins. ducks splashed about in a small muddy hole in which water had gathered. at a distance, a barn and a cottage, the kind they provide for retired railway clerks. on the railway tracks just one train a day passes through...' 

- werner herzog, of walking in ice, 13th december 1974. 

herzog is nearly there. memory and actuality are getting mixed up and discussed together.

'UFOs appear over takoma washington and leave behind a seed that a woman eats and it impregnates her and she goes to utah to give birth to an alien child... and then joins a cult, a doomsday cult out in the desert...' - bookpilled's partial description of saltflower by sydney van scyoc.

bookpilled is preparing for another SF book auction (which will have happened by the time you read this). he has a box of books (but cannot stop himself from keeping the good ones or mentioning that one author's work is now entirely public domain - so you don't need to buy the books to read them). 

despite this he is a really good guide to the field. he's even a good salesperson. 

horsemouth is intrigued by the idea of UFOs over takoma.

strange lights over takoma park

horsemouth's mobile phone actually works 

he can at least receive calls (he got his brother to phone him while he was walking about on the common i.e. a place where there might be some signal). he is therefore more reassured about the journeys that need to be made. he is still languishing in the world of not being able to make any outgoing calls - he will try sticking some more credit on it. 

last year it was a friday 13th this year it is a saturday 13th (by the 52 weeks plus one day principle). saturday maybe zoom beers with howard. he has about a week of work left. saturday and sunday the weather looks decent. 

(thereafter the weather is mercilessly rubbish clear through to the winter solstice and ch______s beyond)

next week the TESCO order comes. horsemouth is sad to say it is everyday provisions rather than ch_____s luxury. 

today a frosty morning. clear skies. 

the winter solstice garland of horsemouth mixcloud mixes begins

'called pierre-henri deleau. I’ve pulled him out of bed; he’s the only one who currently knows that I’m coming on foot. nangis: perfectly straight stretch, pleasant to walk since I can trot along the roadside. cold, light snow begins to drift, then rain. it is very cold; at the edge of the snow I encountered a police roadblock, which became most uncomfortable. harvested fields, trees on the sides of the road, heaps of leftover sugar beets... '

- werner herzog, of walking in ice, december 12th 1974. 

soon herzog's walk will be over 

horsemouth's mum has called into the forge they are up 20kg of mixed corn and 20kgs of layers' pellets (for the chickens), 20kg of potatoes (for themselves and any visitors), and 5kgs of peanuts (for the wild birds for over winter).  the potatoes and the corn are in the garage, the layers' pellets are in the feed bin by the chicken shed, the peanuts are in the greenhouse. 

his uncle has given him some fresh runner beans to plant next year. horsemouth has some broad beans growing already for earlies and some more in the packet for next year. there's still plenty of spinach growing and the weather looks mild (if rainy) up to the solstice. 

once again horsemouth promises to get better at this gardening lark next year

he's been very headachey this last while. he's not sure if it's neck trouble or some flu sort of thing or a tension headache (or whatever). he feels better when he does stuff (even if the headache itself doesn't shift). 

his phone still seems to be on the fritz but it looks like it will accept incoming calls (nope straight to voicemail). the question is - is it a signal problem (no signal where horsemouth is) or is it a PAYG/ credit problem. at a minimum horsemouth needs to be able to receive texts or phonecalls - if it won't do that it has got to go in the bin. 

it is the start of the winter solstice garland of horsemouth mixcloud mixes 

here a later one from 12/12/21 (the last of the 6 he did with howard). horsemouth is pictured in a costume from the fall of the house of fitzgerald engaging in some stage magic. at the moment he was just listening to herbie handcock and the headhunters, now he's moved on to some michael o'shea and now babylon is fallen by swan arcade. 

the friday and saturday look like the weather might be decent (thereafter it all goes to shit).  looks like christmas eve might be decent but the solstice looks distinctly shabby. 

so far a grey morning. we shall see. 

a horseman - a tree - a sheep (you are here)

'all I see in front of me is route. suddenly, near the crest of a hill, I thought, there is a horseman, but when I moved in closer it was a tree; then I saw a sheep, and was uncertain as to whether or not it would turn out to be a bush, but it was a sheep, on the verge of dying. it died still and pathetically; I’ve never seen a sheep die before. I marched very swiftly on...' 

- werner herzog, of walking in ice, 11th december1974. 

horsemouth has taken advantage of the break in the rain to go for a walk on the common. the dogwalkers were similarly out and about. it's now looking like the break in the rain will be the best part of two days (friday afternoon may be decent also) and then we are back into it until the winter solstice (pretty much). 

in a bit horsemouth will be off to do the egg delivery. (ok he's just done it. he's just back). 

david grubb's beneath the visiting moon continues to go well. david has moved to cornwall to become a writer. he has fallen in with the now little known writer james ernest turner, an author of ghost stories, crime fiction and nature poetry. 

'james wrote to live.. he wrote for glossy magazines, did radio work and book reviews. his writing was the source of his income. he didn't find prose a bore, he didn't resent the time it took, time that he would otherwise have spent on his poetry. I learned that in order to make writing a success, at the time of putting pen to paper each project had to be seen as being as important as any other writing task. a book review took as much time and energy and concentration as writing and revising a poem. all writing was important...' 

the town has (after a number of near misses) flooded while david was there. 

and so completes part one of david's book. in part two he will propose an experiment in autobiography the ancient child's album. you are invited to complete your own in part three (the only text made available on those pages is you are here). in part four there seems to be a fictitious account of the making of a movie about it. 

horsemouth has been watching a 1979 tv series called the omega factor (he can't think why he hasn't seen it before - maybe his social life was too busy in his last few years in caerphilly).  it's a stone tape type parapsychology and technology and secret government agencies type thing. 

a morning with clear skies. in a bit horsemouth will go off and get the bin from the bottom of the drive.  a clearish day with the usual pattern (rain) not being re-established until the evening. 

the winter continues (great stagnation)

'crystal clear weather for a while, a joyful feeling upon seeing the sun, everywhere steam: steam from the aube as if it were boiling, steam from the fields. when I look up to the sky while walking, without realizing I walk on a curve toward the north. right after the aube, the steam from a field was so thick and so low above the ground that I waded through it shoulder-high. viewed far and wide, the land is almost flat. a mangy woman chases a mangy dog out of the house. oh, my god, how I am cold...' 

- werner herzog, of walking in ice, 10th december 1974.

'I go through periods of great stagnation...' 

- fernando pessoa, the book of disquiet, fragments 67 (66), 10th december 1930

oh dear horsemouth lost his temper again 

his mother, aunt and uncle have departed to attempt to keep the ancestors grave clean in a rainstorm. horsemouth does not think this is entirely wise (but it will certainly be an adventure). 

because he had lost his temper he didn't think to propose that today was maybe not the day for it. he supposes that people will come to this conclusion at some point. if they are cut off by flood water they are in a car and  there are hotels etc. (they have money). 

ah they've made it back

here in the wilds of herefordshire  it has been predicted that after the storms of the 9th the 10th will be sunny.  (so far horsemouth is not observing this)

but when it comes this will (doubtless) cheer horsemouth up. the rainy weather and dark nights make him feel a bit trapped. peak darkness is on or round about the 21st of december (the winter solstice) thereafter (long dark tunnel) there is movement back up towards the light. 

before that there's his brother's daughter's graduation. after it is the festival that shall not be named and  a visit from his brother's family. 

and then the winter continues (and indeed intensifies). 

does horsemouth sneak away from social gatherings to write? yes he does. 

and in the new year

come may horsemouth predicts political carnage as both labour and the conservatives watch their electoral base evapourate. horsemouth is unclear what the effect of PR will be across the border in wales. this means reform (assuming that they have not all been outed as racists and soviet agents by then, assuming anyone even cares) will not be denied their share of the vote. 

does horsemouth predict an early election? 

no he does not. the only viable labour strategy is to cling on and hope things get better (the sunak prevarication). 

weather permitting

tomorrow much better weather for herzog on his walk from munich to paris 

but today, the same old same old

'... uncertain about the route today, probably straight toward troyes, possibly via wassy. the cloud situation has hardly changed since yesterday, the very same thing: rain, gloom. noon in dommartin-le-franc; I ate a little. the countryside is boring, hilly, bare, plowed wet fields. in the furrows cold water has gathered, at a distance all dissolves in cloudy drizzle. it’s really not rain, just sheer drizzle.' 

- werner herzog, on walking in ice, 9th december 1974. 

'everything he did was a saving, a using again, a refusal to discard, to give up, to waste... we ourselves were often the recipients of grandpa's craft. when he wrote to us we recognised those second hand envelopes. he wrote on coloured paper, bits stuck together. his letters were happy and amusing and unique. they were about doing 'jobs', making new things from old things, making things work as fresh objects. they were essentially about life.'

-david grubb on his grandfather in beneath the visiting moon (1983). 

it is the 30th anniversary of the death of philosopher gillian rose - horsemouth has her love's work round here somewhere (which he recommends highly).  round about the time of the crisis group one of the youngsters recommended it to horsemouth and a week or so later he found it in the gower street oxfam (well ok the one opposite bookmarx). 

she died in 1995. we are probably talking 2008-2010 here when horsemouth read the book. 

yesterday horsemouth he has wandered into the village to pick up some (unnecessary) provisions. a neighbour's air-source heat pump is

today 

weather permitting his mum is off to keep the ancestor's graves clean the other side of hereford (stoke prior).  at the moment it is dark and rainy (but it is not pelting it down). we should see in the morning. horsemouth and his mum expect the aunt and uncle to cancel. 

to open up the emotions and the memories

'during the night I was very cold. an old man crosses the bridge, unaware that he’s being watched. he walks so slowly, and ponderously, pausing again and again after short, hesitant steps; that is death walking with him. all is shrouded still in semi-darkness. low clouds, it won’t be a good day...' 

- werner herzog, of walking in ice, 8th december1974. 

after this herzog is off into a memory, off up a mountain (and we cannot follow him). but all these little glimpses of his journey, of his life, are good. the power of isolation to open up the emotions and the memories. 

in pluribus, after the joining, the many are truly one. thus any of the many can do anything that one of the many could do (such as fly a plane). they also don't need to discuss or debate doing things or even agree how something should be done. they just start doing it in the most resource effective way possible.

it kind of reminds him of occupy (or of the current fetish for people's assemblies). 

a utopia of marvellous efficiency beckons

(you don't know how beautiful this looks to horsemouth. he has spent a lifetime begging to be allowed to do the obvious).

but first they must clear up all the dead bodies

later it will be revealed, they are so empathic that not only can they not kill any animals for food they can also not pick apples or harvest wheat. windfalls can be gleaned, roadkill can be harvested, and dead human bodies can by ground up for 'milk' (the soylent green defence). 

the empathy of the infected is a thought experiment - any activity is likely to cause some animal or plant suffering somewhere. 

despite all this the infected will soon start dying out of starvation.

horsemouth remembers a dietary restriction called fruitarianism being briefly popular among the harder core vegans. 

now of course veganism (applied on a world scale) would require vast changes in agriculture (even vegetarianism would require many changes). without animal poo/ pesticides  conventional agriculture becomes much less efficient. it probably wouldn't starve us to death though.