horsemouth dreamt about exhibiting art

yesterday evening (in 1981) 

marguerite duras and jerome beaujour were discussing the authors she reads - musil, segalen, and the painter matisse. 

the matisse sounds good. horsemouth has some musil and some segalen.

this morning horsemouth dreamt about exhibiting art. 

specifically howard's art at st. paul's cathedral. it seemed to be a great video display piece. later the curator of it all came over and talked to horsemouth (which was a bit difficult because it wasn't horsemouth's work of art) and then they went to see other pieces of art being exhibited. 

one of these was a giant whirlpool being exhibited in a swimming pool sized tank. the grey water sloshed around at tremendous speeds. 

while he was down in the wen one of horsemouth's favourite things he did was sing a backing vocal on denise's singing of molly malone (cockles and mussels a-live, alive oh!). she also sang she moved through the fair. 

horsemouth is back in the wilds. he has unleashed the chickens and fed them. the nasturtiums are doing well (very well). 

he woke up with a headache (but that seems to have cleared). 

while he was in hereford waiting for the bus  horsemouth had a falafel wrap.  

on his way back from his visit to the wen

 as we speak (as it were) horsemouth is on his way back from his visit to the wen.

there he saw denise and jonny and lethal and wayne and dave and claudia and graham and howard and enza and michelangelo. he also saw the inside of lidl and a great deal of transport infrastructure.

people of the world you are beautiful. 

he has to admit that (courtesy of his bank) the journey did not get off to the best of starts. fortunately his brother saved him and (fortified by a pint in wetherspoons) he made it onto the train. 

and now, somewhat tired and bruised by beer, he is on his way back. 

one interesting thing on the journey was that he could get a bus back from hereford on a sunday to pontrilas (which is two miles away). previously the nearest he has been able to get on a sunday was madley - 5 miles away). 

that just left the two mile walk from pontrilas which was truly beautiful in the sun. 

3 sailors dance

yesterday walk to the village (with the guests) and a walk back. a quick go on the exercise machines on the sportsfield. horsemouth has been sent a version of trois martelots (3 sailors dance) to listen to (and very good it is too). 

horsemouth's legs are now aching but at least it got him out of his post walk up the hill slump. 

before that a wander up the hill to deliver the eggs. in the path by the stream some cows and some calves. horsemouth backed them down the path and then managed to get round them at the gate.

today horsemouth is off travelling (where he will end up anyone knows) but he will be back home on sunday afternoon (that's the promise). 

 ---------------------

so how has horsemouth been feeling?

seeing his guests has cheered him up a bit and seeing the people where he is travelling should do the rest. 

it has been delayed by this, that, and the other, but still, finally, it is happening. 

above radie peat takes the other side of blackwaterside it seems. 

a visit to the village

nothing back on trois matelots yet. horsemouth had a quick look at gribouille's les corbeaux, it looks do-able. he thinks he needs to write another chapter  about a puppet show with sailors featuring bulotte the weasel. otherwise everything else progresses on keenly. 

guests have arrived. there has been a walk down to the abbey and a meal. after that horsemouth's mum and the guests stayed up playing cards. horsemouth is not interested in games of luck or skill so he retired to bed. 

today a visit to the village (doctor's appointment and village shop). he thinks the main thing is to avoid tiring his mum out with 'useful' tasks. tomorrow horsemouth is away so that he can be a visitor. 

oh dear. a name from horsemouth's past has made it into the newspapers (in connection with something or other). horsemouth's usual advice is if you are in a hole, stop digging. but sometimes even that isn't enough. 

by the time you read this guests will have arrived

by the time you read this guests will have arrived

further guests will be due later on in the day. 

yesterday horsemouth went for a wander up on the common (clockwise round the outside). at some point he took the bin down the drive and delivered the eggs to the crossroads. after that he dug up some potatoes and a rather large parsnip. 

it's the evening. horsemouth is in the office den. in the day this will be in use (so horsemouth will have to be elsewhere). 

the morning

horsemouth is elsewhere (in the conservatory). he has his coffee (and he's been out to visit the hens).

a new dispensation coming/ the new thing is being born

horsemouth was asked how he was.

he replied.

'there's now a bus service from hereford to a village a mile and a half away on a sunday... there will be  evening buses out of hereford from the end of september.

I've been singing (badly) in french, whistling and telling stories over at the far future village band on albums II, III and (soon to be) IV. 

how are you?'

this doesn't exactly answer the question though does it? 

horsemouth is grumpy and bored. the recipe that sustained him through the last two to three years is coming to an end. hopefully there is a new dispensation coming/ the new thing is being born. 

yesterday he had a go at singing les trois matelots (well at least the start of it). 

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

'I wonder in what terms other people tell their life histories. accounts based on chronology or external facts seemed to be the most popular, you start at the beginning of your life then trundle along towards on the present on the rails of public events...' - marguerite duras, practicalities. 

so horsemouth and his mother watched 70up the concluding (they tell us) episode of 7up the series where a number of children were followed from the age of 7 years and interviewed every 7 years.

horsemouth watched 21up (he guesses) while he was at sixth form college.  

he guesses this will be much discussed today. 

the group has more boys than girls (this would not happen now) and thus women's experiences are already marginalised. it has only one BAME kid in the whole bunch. unless someone is coming out aged 70 in episode 2 there are no LGBTQ+ characters. 

the first off is that it is a pretty strong argument for the post war boom. nearly all of the kids grow up to be materially 'successful' (houses, cars, families) not just the posh kids but the working class kids and the kids from the children's home too. 

it is a world of material success where someone who has worked as a deacon and then retired to france is almost presented as the failure. it is difficult not to make a wild diagnosis of depression but we are with the film makers definitions of surviving and thriving. had this character retired to spain and the sunshine would we think differently of him?

secondly (and inevitably) is is presented as a strong argument for marriage and children (not just as accumulator of capital but as life-work).  

we are told it is the last. can people not bear the pain of burying these characters? or watching them succumb to dementia? we have already buried the director. 

the physicist stakes his career on nuclear fusion (which in this alternate reality does not happen). he ends up divorced and surviving with cancer. apparently he has since died. horsemouth is saddened by this. one of the posh kids splits off in the direction of art and becomes a documentary film director himself, he seizes control of his narrative.

external facts intrude little into this account. but the post war boom is a major (unacknowledged) factor in this and it, indubitably, has come to an end. the steadiness and predictability of these lives must look unachievable to those who are 21 now. 

ok more on this in a week's time when episode 2 is broadcast. 

shopping bag spirits and freeway fetishes

a still from a barbara mccullough movie - possibly 1981’s shopping bag spirits and freeway fetishes: reflections on ritual space.

horsemouth heard about it because don cherry did the soundtrack to one of her films (1979's water ritual #1: an urban rite of purification) but he has been unable to find it anywhere. he possibly heard about it from the WIRE. 

recognition

so (in his previous blogpost) why was horsemouth getting exercised about recognition for his worldly deeds when he claims not to give a fuck?

and it should be doubly surprising because has he not finished with his worldly deeds (to whit the communal endeavour)? 

well it's because (at some point) he will be visiting the wen and worries about having these kinds of conversations. the advantage of this is that he re-read (in a hurry) ‘the tyranny of structureless’ essay. 

some text to illustrate boredom

it is the fabled yesterday and soon it will be time for the 12:00 news. the state of the world will continue to be lamentable no doubt. (and so it proved). 

horsemouth should turn of the laptop and read a bit more. or go for another walk. eventually though he started watching youtube videos earlier than he usually does. 

the morning

it's a rainyish morning (but the sky is fairly clear). there's even some sunshine. horsemouth has been out already to unleash the chickens and put the milk in the garage. tomorrow preparation for the arrival of visitors. today nothing so much.