the osea island temperance community

horsemouth (further to a link about essex architecture week and the group radical essex) has been reading (in the FTweekend supplement of all places - yes horsemouth has been enjoying reading physically-existing newspapers once more) about radical goings on out in essex back in the day. in particular about the osea island temperance community. a friend recounts parking up the boat just off there and rowing ashore for a picnic when he was growing up (now it is a reasonably plush holiday place).

Trail of The Spider from Hugo Baltazar on Vimeo.

once some friends filmed a western where the only way (out) was essex. of course horsemouth thinks this is just a plot to lure us all out there so we can be massacred on the mudflats. there are chances to visit this weekend.

other radical sites include the wickford anarcho-naturist commune (tolstoyan) - well worth a miss, silver end,  and the bata shoe factory and workers’ estate in tilbury (based on the giant bata workers’ estate in ziln in the czech republic). a visit there would give horsemouth the chance to check out if it is true (as hoy shanty alleges) that ‘tilbury girls go round in pairs’.

horsemouth is still stuck in the meat world without a broadband collection only accessing the digital pleroma at the library (and then only when it is open). this was perhaps why he went and hid at his parents for a bit (in the green in the green).

the weekend may be busy (and horsemouth may be babysitting at some point in the middle of it). thereafter he is (probably) back to work. he attended the induction meeting for beachside donkey rides (winter season) and was comforted to hear of the governments new (donkey) race to the bottom charging schedule - two bids must be obtained for any donkey ride and the lowest of them must be taken (even if the creature is clearly not a donkey - or is only one donkey claiming to cover dozens of bookings simultaneously with their tardis. of course organisations with large resources would not do anything so low as to undercharge to deliberately crash the market and then raise charges later when a monopoly has been secured...