'I bought me a spy-glass some weeks since...'

 'I bought me a spy-glass some weeks since...

 I buy but few things, and those not till long after I begin to want them, so that when I do get them I am prepared to make a perfect use of them and extract their whole sweet.' 

- h.d. thoreau, journals, 10th april 1854. 

horsemouth admires thoreau's abstemious purchasing habits. they are kind of like his own (try and survive without it - and eventually give in). 

howard isn't off to alula down. he is off to loraine james instead. it's his easter break. 

horsemouth and howard had a zoom beer (1 bottle) yesterday. he's off this week and next week and the monday (and then it's back to the grind for him). 

howard has been fixing the potholes in his lawn (where the rain gets out). see his work in the garden is beginning to pay off.

he has not yet tried the alan bennett horsemouth gave him. they discussed some of the music howard has downloaded on bandcamp (as musicians of bremen). 

as a bonus horsemouth just spotted that someone from warsaw has downloaded musicians of bremen volume four. cheers. (wow. looks like they've bought the lot.) horsemouth is trying to work out what the connection is. they've also bought loads of in gowan ring. 

anyway so here are musicians of bremen's recordings in his (or her) collection.  ok rafal is a polish man's name (the polish version of raphael). 

horsemouth has placed the image on the other side of the page from his usual habit because of a poor match up with the image above (don't say he's not design conscious). 

fairplay mike amesbury (the downpuncher) did actually resign as MP. horsemouth is shocked - they normally cling on after every last penny of that MP's salary and allowances. and so there's going to be a by-election on may 1st in his old constituency of runcorn and helsby. 

but it looks like  it's going to go to reform. their candidate is former tory (and former independent also) sarah pochin. (to lose one party is a misfortune...)

it's the morning of the thursday. horsemouth is expecting his aunt and uncle to come and take his mum off to keep the ancestors' graves clean. horsemouth will be staying he's got a meeting for the cosa nostra at 1pm (he thinks). 

'the tiniest incident' (allied to life)

horsemouth is heartened by the response to his substack post the sunny uplands of the now. (a whole two likes on substack and a like for the graphic substack generated for it). 

the sunny uplands of the now was an account of a typical saturday for horsemouth out in the wilds. (he has to admit that the chickens have great comic potential). 

it is closer to his usual style of recording  juxtaposed events, quotations, readings. in  involving life and argument as thoreau puts it somewhere (and better) but that horsemouth cannot find at the minute.

ok no. he's found it;

'I do not know but thoughts written down thus in a journal might be printed in the same form with greater advantage than if the related ones were brought together into separate essays. they are now allied to life, and are seen by the reader not to be far-fetched. it is more simple, less artful.'  - henry david thoreau, journals, 27th january 1852. 

so additionally (rather than instead) he repeats a quote by fernando pessoa; 

'the wise man makes his life monotonous for then even the tiniest incident becomes imbued with great significance.' - fernando pessoa. the book of disquiet, fragment 20[56], undated. 

howard has expressed an interest in the alula down gig. this would mean a train out of london at the latest by 8.10am (if the stage times stay the same at 11am).  he's also talking about zoom beers tomorrow (which would be welcome). 

tomorrow. delivering the eggs. posting a letter. taking the recycling bin down the drive.  (plus the usual chicken and garden stuff).

horsemouth has just been up for a walk on the common. he's probably going to head back outside to sit in the sun and read. 

he's found a note to himself to check the existence of the 0920 bus on a wednesday. 

the thing with substack is that it does attempt to 'instantly associate all literary labour with pecuniary award' (or at least with the play money of likes on the internet). it does tap into that have typewriter must hustle variety of hucksterism. it is not that writing and capitalism (or indeed anything and capitalism) can be mutually indifferent in our society, a society where everything is judged by the great yardstick of financial success. 

but still horsemouth prefers the play money of the internet to the real thing. but would he if he genuinely thought there was a risk of getting paid?  

improved public transport would mean a lot to horsemouth

'I find i can criticise my composition best when I stand at a little distance from it, - when I do not see it, for instance, I make a little chapter of contents which enables me to recall it page by page to my mind, and judge it more impartially when my manuscript is out of the way. the distraction of surveying enables me rapidly to take new points of view. a day or two surveying is equal to a journey.' - thoreau, diary, 8th april 1854.

soon thoreau will discourse on the aeolian harp of the telegraph wires (april 12th) but for the moment he is with writing and composition again, as befits laurence stapleton's selections from it as a writer's journal. 

horsemouth was thinking about this. remember when you used to hand write essays and you would plan out the essay first  (and then write them according to that plan because you couldn't drag chunks of text about when a better way of making the argument occurred to you). 

diaries

well nothing marked by date from the book of disquiet. kafka back in april 16th (horsemouth believes). 7th april was the date of the 1861 census - the reverend william poole filled it in listing himself and three servants in his house. 

8th april was easter day in 1860. poole described it thus;

'again I have been allowed to keep our easter festival, to meet my brethren in god's house, and share with them the bread and the wine, in sure proof of the resurrection.'

no kilvert until the 10th. 

yesterday horsemouth wandered over into ewyas harold to pick up his mum's prescription (and wandered back again). 

it was another glorious day. things proceed well in the greenhouse. in addition to the 13 nasturtiums, 5 runner bean plants are now up, and 5 pea plants too. so far no sign of anything else (not that horsemouth would recognise it). out in the garden some sprouting signs of hope (but again horsemouth can't tell what they are yet). it is cold at night horsemouth does hope that won't kill anything off.

in the other greenhouse (in addition to the wounded chicken) there are a number of strawberry plants in pots - if these do well horsemouth will add some more. plenty grew in the old garden but they were inevitably eaten by the squirrels. horsemouth thinks that if he moves them into the greenhouse they may stand a chance.

currently no sign from the potatoes himself and his mother planted last week at the bottom of the old garden (but then it is early). 

horsemouth is looking at the prospects for getting to the alula down gig in malvern for record store day 

this year the gig is at about 11am. 

getting there

it being a saturday there is no 7.20am bus from abbeydore and the 9.20 will not get him there on time. to get himself there he thinks he will have to be up 6 am-ish, walk to pontrilas, get the 0725 but to hereford and then get the 0840 or 0940 train from hereford, the 0940 will get him in at 1012 enough time to walk up the hill for the gig.

the 0920 from abbeydore would mean he would not get him into hereford until 1012 and so he would not get him into malvern until 1112. 

horsemouth would probably get in a visit to the malvinha spring while he was there. 

coming back 

the buses back from hereford are at 1420, 1620 and 1820 (given the great malvern train times he is looking at about an hour layover in hereford before he can get the bus out)  but there are no buses pontrilas to abbeydore when he gets back local (so he would be walking so he would). 

as you can see improved public transport would mean a lot to horsemouth. 

'the great khan's atlas contains also the maps of the promised lands visited in thought but not yet discovered or founded: new atlantis, utopia, the city of the sun, oceana, tamoe, new harmony, new lanark, icaria...'

- italo calvino, invisible cities.

hid within the first the secret commentary on the other

'though I walked amongst them as a stranger, no-one noticed.' 

- fernando pessoa, the book of disquiet, 132 (198) 7th april 1933.

ok so horsemouth has sent his brother's eldest all the bus-timetable information that there is to enable him to make an escape from the wilds of herefordshire on a tuesday or wednesday. now all that remains to be see is if he will bite.  

if he bites your boy horsemouth will be able to make an escape to the wen - perhaps on the saturday 19th, perhaps the sunday, perhaps the monday and probably back to the wilds the wednesday or the thursday.

really similar kinds of days the week after would be better for him (but hey). 

horsemouth types this (he was about to say writes this) on a sunday - it's another beautiful day outside - in a bit he will go out and listen to the 1pm news (or as much of it as he can bear).  

he was just watching a film from leeds beckett university about deep home retrofits and the accuracy of EPCs (energy performance certificates). the daily torygraph (it seems to horsemouth) has mis-represented their research. they point out that many houses actually perform better than the EPC would claim, thus the savings having done the improvements would be less, and thus the payback time would be longer. 

this the torygraph reports as if the measures don't work and thus payback times will be greater. 

eden (aidan of montreal) soundtracks jonas mekas's he stands in the desert... it's nice.

'the second riddle is hid within the first;

that the one riddle is the secret commentary on the other;

and that the earliest is the hieroglyphic of the last'

- thomas de quincey, the theban sphinx. 

horsemouth was reading this in the sun (even though the air was cold). 

he followed a link to a book copsford by walter j.c. murray.  first published in 1948, it is the story of murray's year long stay in a derelict cottage. the cottage is pictured on the front cover but has since been demolished. there's an essay on him by tom wareham over on a wordpress site devoted to richard jefferies. 

well it's a beautiful morning but it looks like there's been a frost. the chickens are happy bunnies (if that makes sense). 

saturday alula down are playing in malvern for record store day - horsemouth may try and see if he can get over. 

orwell on jura

 'atmosphere constitutes the soul of things...' 

- fernando pessoa, the book of disquiet, 246 (477), 6th april 1930

it is currently saturday (when horsemouth types this). today a walk on the common.  

it will be sunday when it is read (if it is read at all). 

the weather for the next week or so looks absolutely gorgeous. not until wednesday 16th does it look like there's bad weather. 

diaries

no kilvert til the 10th (1871). no thoreau til the 7th (1856). 

this saturday afternoon  perhaps zoom beers with howard (nope doesn't look like so). 

thursday a zoom meeting with the people engaged with the hush-you-know-what. it looks like it is all still going on and that horsemouth's paranoia about it crashing and burning was all just paranoia. 

following on from the zoom meeting horsemouth will probably write something explaining the situation as is and the presence in the annual meeting of the communal endeavour of the people from the thing that can't be named (if indeed they are coming down to visit). horsemouth will try and use the presence of the people from the thing to entice out members of the communal endeavour who are also interested in the thing to physically attend the meeting of the communal endeavour on the last day of april. 

saturday 12th record store day and gwenifer raymond will be playing a gig at 8am in brighton (horsemouth won't be there).  

the week after possibly a gig and then his brother's youngest's birthday meal - thereafter (as he has remarked) horsemouth might be able to escape to the wen (if only for a few days). he's now considering if he could escape on the saturday and come back on the thursday/ friday.

the week after that the wednesday horsemouth needs to be back in the wen for the meeting of the communal endeavour. 

thereafter we run out of month and are onto the joys of may. (may 24th soft white underbelly gig). 

last night horsemouth watched alan plater's crystal spirit: george orwell on jura - death is closing in on him, all that remains to do is write (and then laboriously type up) his manuscript for 1984. while he is still well there is a foolhardy attempt to shoot a tidal current in a small boat with a poorly lashed on outboard  motor.  

memoirs of a sleepreader (sneaking off into town)

diaries 

nothing from kilvert from 1871. thoreau similarly. 

'don’t worry about fame. me, I’m trying to be less famous...'  - michael hurley

outlaw bookseller is in caerleon  and he's talking about an unknown horror writer. but it's not arthur machen - it's  charles bockden brown. horsemouth has one of his somewhere, he thinks it's edgar huntly, (aka. memoirs of a sleepwalker), but you know - he can't remember if he's read it.

oh bollocks. amadou bagayoko has died. amadou of amadou and mariam. to be honest horsemouth hadn't realised he was the amadou in les ambassadeurs (despite knowing the tune amadou) until he saw them play a gig (RFH? QEH? with john and richard).

there was a good extended piece on michael hurley including a photo of the inside of his car (which was good and messy). the car looked like a clunker. it gave horsemouth a warm feeling. 

-----------------------------

and now a written-in-the-morning component to this blogpost. 

yesterday a visit to TESCOs. by the time they'd paid for the local dial-a-ride scheme they made no saving (remarked his mum). difficult to say (thought horsemouth to himself).  the trick would be to buy more in bulk. to try to buy a month's food at one sitting. 

ah good the heating has just come on. it is cold in the mornings.

horsemouth's brother's eldest is thinking of spending a few days at his grandma's after horsemouth's brother's youngest's birthday do. he's a little concerned about about transportation out at the end so horsemouth is trying to reassure him that it is (in fact) possible on 6 buses a day (on a good day). 

should it happen this will give horsemouth the opportunity to be sneaking off into town. 

of course the timing isn't that good. (the week after would really suit horsemouth better).  but hey it will give him a chance to shift a few more books and guitars/ consider various disposals etc. 

'instantly associate all literary labour with pecuniary reward'

'a letter from my mother brings the astonishing news that mr. ashe wishes to have a stove in langley burrell church and will offer no opposition to the gallery being taken down to admit of the stove...'  - kilvert, diaries, 4th april 1871. 

'men's minds run so much on work and money that the mass instantly associate all literary labour with pecuniary reward' - thoreau, diaries, 3rd april 1859. 

if this was true in thoreau's day it is so much more true now. or at least with the dream of it (look at substack). 

there is (of course) a similar dream for music.

the action that attracts the attention with thoreau is physically writing in a notebook. it was similar with claude levi-strauss, the locals could see something was going on but they couldn't tell what. with levi-strauss the locals assumed it was magic and power, with mid-19th C. americans money. 

similarly, as an experiment, try showing up anywhere with a clipboard. 

nowadays everything is typed on a computer or a phone (of sorts) or filmed with a  phone. 

horsemouth would settle for being read (or listened to). and then with being read (or listened to) a little more. 

horsemouth has partially destroyed his own reading by diarising 

he is not reading the thoreau like he should because he scan reads the book looking for material from the correct day of the month so he can quote it here.  nothing from the fernando pessoa today (for example). and similarly with that.

there is a temptation to involve things with time, to repeat them at a meaningful date. 

today he read recollections of the lakes and the lake poets: coleridge, wordsworth and southey by thomas de quincey.

(funnily enough in 1871 kilvert has just been to visit someone who was the niece of wordsworth's wife).

de quincey is an egregiously sentimental writer (even by victorian standards) and about as accurate with his dates as carlos castaneda. 

horsemouth also has de quincey's the ceasars in a similar edition. by then de quincey was 'denied the use of books'  in composing it. 'I was obliged to depend upon my memory for materials..' 

horsemouth has them in a green hardback edition (mdccclxii) from blacks of edinburgh - he thinks he bought them in a library sale at goldsmith's university.  the spines are off but (at least in the ceasars) some of the pages are still uncut. he thinks they were probably rebound by the library. 

horsemouth has been thinking of re-launching

that dream of music-making again.

what he would need to do is get one of those digital recorders (probably a multitrack because he loves multitracking things).  really he should get a CD burner again (because he liked that means of distribution). he should get into streaming (and recording) gigs. become a digital cottage industry. 

hmmm. that's a pretty good post. horsemouth thought he had nothing to say. 

michael hurley has died

michael hurley has died. he was the king (the originating don) of freak folk. just listen to the genius of that. 'I'm with you til the morning baby, til the break of day,,'. horsemouth thought it could never happen. horsemouth thought he was invincible. 'I remember that old scumbag coffee shop we used to hang out at..' it's heartbreak, it's the velvet underground.