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grey start hotter later. yesterday horsemouth walked over to south woodford and down to eagle pond. he went in search of the scene of his meeting with alan clark but dyers hall road ends after 4 houses, the ghost space where the encounter took place floats suspended over the widenend M11 (which was why horsemouth was there, doing up gardens in the planning-blighted path of what was to become the M11). later the area became the scene of conflict between squatters, anti-roads activists and the government wishing to widen the road system but when horsemouth was there (86-87) leytonstone was run down and a little sleepy.
in leytonstone (after a conversation about children's books) he bought a copy of alice in wonderland and reread it first near the ponds and then in the back garden. as horsemouth has noted before 'how doth the little crocodile' is a parody of isaac watts improving ' how doth the little busy bee', 'you are old, father william' is lifted from robert southey's 'the old man's comforts, and how he gained them'
'In the days of my youth, I
remembered my god,
and he hath not forgotten my age' etc. etc.
'beautiful soup' a parody of 'beautiful star' a popular song by j.m. sales which alice and her two sisters once sang to dodgson. 'the queen of hearts, she baked some tarts...' is taken in unaltered - but there were other traditional versions to the one we know (as recorded by james orchard halliwell in his 1842 nursery rhymes of england).
horsemouth (on his journeys) not only discovered eagle pond but also leytonstone's art deco library (a hidden gem). the alice... has some critical essays, horsemouth will read these, meanwhile he is battling his way through the indictment of hackney that is inside the inner city with one hand and batting away 'crap masquerading as analysis' (as a friend has put it) with another. he is happier now he has responded to it in writing - it stands revealed as a threadbare and poorly argued paper tiger.
ok the day awaits - more wandering around and more reading.
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