horsemouth out on a wander

so here we have horsemouth out on a wander (photo by howard).

it was a hot day. himself and howard were scuttling from one bit of shade to the next.

you may wonder where his dreadlocks are. 

they are up under his hat. (it is rare for horsemouth to wear a hat).

the wander went from walthamstow wood street to the steps of st. pauls (the start of their last major wander). it went via walthamstow marshes, hackney, islington, smithfield, and st. barts. 

they paused at the lea valley ice rink for coffee. 

and then later they paused  for food in angel thinking that there might be a wetherspoons (but no such luck- the one they were thinking of was in highbury). so they ate more expensively. howard had a vegan burger and fries and horsemouth had halloumi on toast. 

after completing the wander and having sat on the steps of st. pauls in stupefaction at the heat they made their way across the bridge to the tate modern and hid in there for about an hour. there they saw the exhibit by nora chipaumire (which they both liked and enjoyed and would recommend). 

they then went for two pints in a local pub (fortunately with air conditioning) but horsemouth was deterred by the heat from proposing any more (this was probably wise). 

thence hellishly hot underground journeys back. 

now horsemouth is back at his brother's house and cooling off by an open window. 

the morning. horsemouth faces the journey back to the wild. but not for a while. on his cheapest of tickets he can't get the earlier trains and there are breaks in the journey (at birmingham, at hereford). the stop at hereford may permit more book buying. he may travel into the town earlier. 

and sparrows raided the sunflowers

horsemouth is back from max's 60ieth (and scarecrow booklaunch) in spitalfields city farm. 

he travelled down early to bethnal green railway station and then scouted the area for a while. mostly in search of shade. he got a text from minty and they arranged to meet at whitechapel library and then go for coffee at rinkoffs. 

this left horsemouth with a bit of a hurried walk back for the start of max's thing. he got a text from howard to say that he was going.  he bumped into micalef on his way.

and then they were there and gradually everyone was there. micalef performed some scarecrow themed poetry and glyn and a friend provided the music (english country dance stuff with perhaps a breton tune thrown in there).  and sparrows raided the sunflowers.

howard headed off back to the whitechapel gallery.

in the end they all packed up and headed off to their usual pub. on the way horsemouth helped max drop his as yet unsold books off at his beautiful flat. (worthy of john soanes).

at the pub a discussion of tv detective series - and the terms copwashing and copaganda. the squatting days etc. etc. 

eventually himself darshavini and john cunningman headed off in the same general direction towards their respective buses and tube stations (leaving max and micalef etc. still at it).  

today a walk (much of it familiar to horsemouth).

and then on the morrow back to the wilds. 

high barnet wander (the wonderful north circular)

 so after a morning off horsemouth was away to the cruel wars of high barnetery (obscure folk music joke). 

he was picked up in a van from the station carpark by paul clark and transported at marvellous speed via the wonderful north circular. 

later in or near  high barnet itself there were road closures due to burst water mains (apparently there are  loads of these at the minute). there were parking restrictions. all conspired to make a complicated route.

back to the house (in its state of process). paul cooked tortilla and they drank a little beer - this was mostly to deal with horsemouth's hangxiety. they listened to musicians of bremen volume four (which horsemouth had succeeded in bring a working copy of this time). 

toni appeared. a friend arrived. there was a meal outside on the sun loungers. horsemouth proclaimed his contributions to the far future village band project and asked about paul and toni's urban renewal projects.  

and then off for ice creams. during the visit to the ice cream farm there was a ethnomethodological breaching experiment involving a violation of queueing etiquette. (horsemouth only sort of participated and then hid until it had been successful). they then ate icecreams. 

back to the house and walking the dog round the neighbourhood. 

soon after horsemouth said goodbye and thanked his hosts before heading off down the hill towards the tube station. he passed alms houses and busy pubs. thereafter archway, north holloway, walthamstow queen street, walthamstow central, and so on. the youth were out and particularly fine. everybody floated in liquid darkness.

no photos this time. 

today

today we shall see. 

south london wander (over the hills and far away)

 

so horsemouth is back from his south london wander and taking a morning off to recover. 

himself and howard began on the steps of st. pauls. crossing the wobbly (or millenium) bridge they made a brief divergence in search of crossbones cemetery (sadly it was shut but they looked through the railings). then down towards the newington causeway bit of elephant and castle.

soon they had escaped into the new london of pedestrianised pseudo-public spaces. 

their route was the recently instituted (well 2 years ago) green link route from wood street to peckham (as demonstrated in its entirety by john rogers). in this they were only partially successful not having the map but relying on the signage and howard's phone.

from the new london around elephant and castle into the old london of the old estates. 

they pressed on through burgess park (by the lakes) and then down the dried up route of the grand surrey canal to peckham library. 

here they paused for refreshment in a wetherspoons the kentish drover (tea, coffee, chips in curry sauce) before deciding to head up into the hills and visit the horniman museum. 

had horsemouth realised how vertical the ascent was to the horniman he would have declined. eventually they gained the top of the hill and lay in the shade of the trees admiring the view to the west. 

their main interest in the horniman was the musical instruments gallery. they were too tired to attend to the taxidermied animals. 

the whole walk there was probably about six miles all told.

they then descended into forest hill in search of beer 

finding a bearable bar they sat outside and drank and discussed weighty matters (two pints and some chips) and then another pub (a further two pints). the second pub was probably their mistake (or maybe the second beer in the second pub). 

they then made their way home. horsemouth doesn't feel too bad on it (but he does have the morning to recover).  

today a wander in the hills of high barnet (and possibly some second hand book-shopping). 

city island (aka. atlantis)

 ok yesterday afternoon and horsemouth is back indoors. 

he went out to see an old friend and then wandered down to roman road, mile end through TH cemetery park, chrisp street market, aberfeldy, heron wharf, bow ecology, city island (aka. atlantis), east india dock basin and the BACK. 

in crisp street market he tried to take photos documenting the former communal endeavour stock but gradually he changed over to selfies imagining himself in the new london.

especially round heron wharf. 

it is slightly ironic because it is the 75th anniversary of the festival of britain  which gave us chrisp street market in the first place.

the regeneration of which is now stuck in development hell/ court cases etc.)

eventually he reached the thames and the smell of salt water. 

on his way back he called in at walthamstow market to do some book buying - in particular the copy of enthusiasm he had seen the night before, but also bruno's dream (iris murdoch), and the paris review (issue 215)  he bought these with cash. 

today there is a plan for a walk. horsemouth is meeting howard at a particular location at a particular time but where they are going from there he does not know. 

books, films, gigs, events july 2026

 books

- enthusiasm by neil cummings and marysia lewandowska 

- biography of anna akhmatova

- teffi memories: from moscow to the black sea

- lawrence durrell, ceasar's vast ghost

- kilvert, diaries

- imagining new ways to live by michelle gurule (LARB)

- the narrow road to the deep north basho

-  a little of seeing england (antiquarians, travellers and naturalists) which ends with the naturalist gilbert white of selborne in hampshire

- nicholas royle confessions of a book collector

-  the ice monkey by m.john harrison

- NLR 159 such articles as are free

- GDN how would britain look under PR?

- GDN review of christopher priest and nina allan  book on j.g. ballard

- foul means james butler

- LRB susannah clapp at dungeness

- 

films

- l'homme sans visage  a french mini-series first broadcast 17th july 1975

- gwenifer raymond interview

- adam tooze on andy burnham, manchesterism and thus engels

- the anna lapwood  transcription of hans zimmer's 'chevaliers de sangreal'

- aaron bastani meets peter apps (housing)

- why birthrates are falling everywhere (smartphones)

- ira sachs on je tu il elle

gigs wave debb online stuff

events

memorial event for mickey mann (didn't go but important anyway), weirdshire six hours of drone made available, horsemouth masterminds the new london. 

a proposal to weight bells the same (interesting)

in the morning a wander round with TG hugging every possible bit of shade. down along the canal to the forest, cross over the road and back up to the river. 

dogs

dogs and children

owners and parents

34C out there right now (allegedly). in the afternoon horsemouth cowered indoors at his brother's house. 

hereinafter it's getting a bit cooler. 

he was off out later to see minty. 

while he was waiting for minty and jacqueline he saw enthusiasm by neil cummings and marysia lewandowska in the window of the oxfam shop (but it was shut). this deals with polish film clubs. (horsemouth is tempted to go back and get it). 

a proposal to weight bells the same (interesting).