a state of dull (in)security.

 robbie basho live at sinclair auditorium 22nd july 1978. 

it's not exactly fahey's live in tasmania but it is amazing in its own ways. as a guitar album it is probably better. 

kilvert?

'a letter from mr. venables saying that mr. irvine has taken the curacy of clyro for six months.' 

kilvert says no more than this. his mind was made up already to leave clyro. just the last stint to do.

despite everything horsemouth continues in his state of dull (in)security. it is almost as if the last 5 years of retirement haven't happened. it is an interesting point that had he moved out to the wilds even earlier he would be even more secure. for this reason he contemplates the next five years of retirement with equanimity. 

that's not to say that he is not bored and frustrated and anxious (these are all pretty much his default settings). 

more runner beans cropped yesterday

the remaining broad beans he is leaving until just before his brother gets here. the tomatoes are doing well (as is the basil). there will be enough onions. maybe not enough beetroot, enough damsons... 

he had some thoughts about whether to go out and water. (in the end he half did)

yesterday horsemouth saw an advert for the newport jazz festival. great! he went. a jazz festival in newport... wonder if it's free. 

well it may be free but it's in rhode island. (it was possibly the appearance of stanley clarke on the bill that got the message to him). 

a cool grey morning. it almost looks like it has rained. 

horsemouth has his coffee. he's just taken a big slug of it - ah it tastes good. 

a friend (who is a photographer) has complimented horsemouth on one of his pictures 

(or maybe he did a long time ago it's not exactly clear). this one of a dead seagull taken over near the harland and wolff gates in lyle park . it was a hot day. horsemouth was walking out towards thames barrier park. he was urban exploring (one of his favourite things). 

hail the runner bean that kindest of crops

'I took the whole morning and afternoon service and sermon, but my father took part in holy communion...'

so says francis kilvert of this day in 1872. on wednesday he will spend it with the de quettevilles (this is an old brittany name, ok no horsemouth is wrong, normandy). one of their relatives is still about (writing for the daily torygraph horsemouth believes). 

meanwhile, in lawrence durrell's ceasar's vast ghost  his friend aldo is reading a travel guide to south eastern france by none other than francis kilvert's friend augustus hare. (what are the odds!)

thus is horsemouth's reading united.

hare also wrote ghost stories (or rather he larded his autobiographies with them) - one such is the vampire of croglin grange.

the robbie basho is from 1978 the night before he did a gig that was recorded. this, a short set in a coffee house was recorded also. 

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a hazy morning here in the wild 

there are going to be lots of runner beans conversely the first crop of broad beans is in (and there are probably some left overs for his brother) and then horsemouth would have to get very lucky to get another crop out of these particular plants. there are fewer beetroot plants that horsemouth thought/ would have hoped. there will be enough onions. how we are for potatoes he does not yet know. the spinach has bolted and is basically done. the caterpillars have decimated the cabbage and the sprouts.

hail the runner bean that kindest of crops.  

horsemouth worries that he is in the wrong place (hell he knows he is in the wrong place) but there is little or nothing he can do about it. 

yet another imaginary conversation rendered null and void

a discussion of communal living

'the percentage of americans living in nuclear family households has declined significantly since 1970...'

but of course there is a huge economic factor with this. 

horsemouth is no longer living communally. rather than experience it as great and beautiful he experienced it as conflict. conflict over access to the living room, over using the front garden as a waste dump, over using the back garden as a waste dump. 

to be fair whenever he shared he felt these kind of stresses. and whenever he lived on his own he felt different social stresses.

beyond that there was the wider co-op which seemed to contain the absolutely average number of selfish and unpleasant people.  similarly when he worked. 

horsemouth was very grateful to the people who were active in the co-op and to the co-op's existence for housing him at a point when he was in great housing difficulty. he thinks it is a beautiful thing (except in its actuality). similarly for the work that fed him (except for day to day). 

the truth, horsemouth supposes, is that he is a grumpy bastard. 

and yet he misses the co-operative. there was a potential to do good there. 

this is yet another imaginary conversation rendered null and void. 

interesting. facebook was down. and then it was back up again. 

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perhaps the whole target of the iran war is not iran but china. china has handled the energy crisis well by using its strategic reserves. but this cannot continue. similarly for the rest of the world. 

the us strategic reserves are stored underground in giant salt caverns - whether these can be just turned on and off without risking their structural integrity could turn out to be a major issue. 

it is one thing to blunder into a stupid war with iran it is another thing to blunder into a stupid war with china. 

a bright morning with an interesting nip in the air. horsemouth thinks more chicken feed this week. 

imaginary conversations rendered null and void ('all three is a...')

kilvert is still back at his father's 

horsemouth is still writing his far future village band stuff but he's waiting for inspiration to strike again. until then he'll grind it out. 

yesterday a walk up the hill to deliver the eggs. on his way back down there was a girl ahead of him. she was just passed the bridge when he turned up the path by the military base.

she did not reappear.  

later a wedding at the abbey (horsemouth was told). there were bells. (they seemed to go on a long time).

the strimming of the chicken enclosure was successful when it was completed the chickens could be released. no chickens were strimmed in the process that's the main thing. 

horsemouth has realised 

that the thing in town he was worried about going to is on next week not the week after - he will therefore not be able to go. at a stroke all his anxieties pop (but also all his possible pleasures too). it would have been a good opportunity to catch up with loads of people (ah well). 

horsemouth can't tell you the number of imaginary conversations that renders null and void. 

later still a walk on the common. lots of people around. (but none of them were walking dogs). it looked pretty much as it looks above (except he didn't go that route). 

later still a zoom beer with howard. 

sculptures. erm...erm... pachy-o-derm. 'all three is a...'

the sheep are gone again (up the hill).

'age of decline and dissolution...'

'in an age of decline and dissolution, the roman world had shattered like a mask...' 

- lawrence durrell, ceasar's vast ghost. 

and this is horsemouth's view of the future. he thinks things are going to carry on getting worse rather than fall but he thinks eventually it will fall. he thinks the disruptions caused by global warming are on a whole other scale from previous crises. they are literally a global crisis.

in this he is a doomster. 

however, as with the romans, the fall will take centuries. for much of the time the world will appear to be the same but in fact the break up of nation states and power blocks will accelerate. 

the last three tracks on this album were recorded in nice on july 18th 1971 (so 55 years ago to the day) live from the place masséna. it all kicks of round about the 1 hour 14 minutes mark. 

starmer has departed and burnham will soon be in. horsemouth is pessimistic (he does not expect it to make a great deal of difference). burnham has little time to get anything he wants to get done done. soon enough we are back to the electorate (though it will feel like a long time). 

horsemouth was just struggling to feed the chickens while keeping the door to their coop shut. their enclosure is being strimmed, best to keep the chickens out of the way whilst this is going on.

while this post is dated the 17th it was in fact published the morning of the 18th (go figure).  

his busy social whirl begins again

the package has arrived from far off riogordo

contents - CD far future village band III with card cover and photo, handwritten note, chapbook A5 (roughly) card cover 8 pages double stappled featuring 3 case studies of the musicians and 6 photos.

horsemouth pronounces himself delighted. 

 if in doubt try kilvert

'last night the lord stood by me and invited me to drink of the fountain of life freely and I shall stand before the lord as bold as a lion.' - john cennick's aunt on her deathbed, as heard by him aged 9. 

kilvert is in langley burrell. 

yesterday (in 1872) he took his mother to visit the larges who told kilvert about the moravian settlers in east tytherton and the methodist and moravian preacher and hymn writer john cennick. 

here's a photo of their church and a plan of it. 

tomorrow kilvert will observe some haymaking. he will return to clyro on the 5th of august. 

yesterday 

horsemouth went for several walks on the common in the shade (through the woodland - along the side of it as much as possible). he harvested some runner beans (smaller and less stringy this time) and some tomatoes. there are still some broad beans to come (so there will be some for his brother). 

the bell ringing didn't go so well (but on the other hand it wasn't a complete disaster). after that the pub. 

damn he's just remembered he forgot to give sylvia the eggs. (his busy social whirl begins again). 

hmmnn. interesting. chance of rain in the afternoon. 

it is more an idea than a place.

'he advised me to keep a journal of my life, fair and undisguised. he said it would be a very good exercise, and would yield me infinite satisfaction when the ideas were faded from my remembrance.' 

- james boswell's london journal, 16th july 1763. 

'it is more an idea than a place. you will find this out quite soon' 

- local informant in lawrence durrell's ceasar's vast ghost. 

three years ago horsemouth was reading provence in walthamstow (it being more an idea than a place).  

horsemouth has been a bit anxious (not so surprisingly when he thinks about it). 

horsemouth has a visit coming up. it's not when he wanted it to be but at least it is happening. it will enable him to get in a number of social engagements and catch up with people (not everyone but at least some). 

ok. see even writing that down is helping him negotiate with it. 

he has been pleased that he has been writing but he is out of the first wind of it and will have to re-apply himself.  

it's the morning. horsemouth has done the chickens, to his recollection he forgot to take the recycling bin down the hill so it will now be another two weeks before it gets emptied. (pops his head out of the window to check - yes). 

the main water tank on the common is very low - horsemouth will try and excuse himself as much watering as is possible today.