‘what will we do when we have no money?’

so horsemouth is back from lankum gig midweek (and very good it was too). cheers mike and lou (and everybody else including _____ mike - who horsemouth hasn’t seen in the best part of 30 years). as a gig it was pretty near flawless - open with the hit, keep on ringing the changes, waterson’s style harmonies, a harmonium.

horsemouth has work today (so he headed home early when the gig had finished). one of the regular beggars approached (he’d tried horsemouth before the gig too) and horsemouth gave him the thoroughly dishonest sorry mate - no money and open handed shrug barely even thinking about it. once home sten regaled him with the evenings tale of aggressive begging by the posh - ‘yeah but what have you got for me?’ responded the youth when rebuffed by a (for once) literally penniless sten. sten evaded nimbly and posh but impecunious turned his attention to the solitary girl at the bus stop and began with the same aggressive routine.

later a friend of sten’s enabled a switching of roles and for sten and horsemouth to see it from the other side (horsemouth confessed that he has never done any begging) - having once done some begging sten’s friend remarked, you feel bad, and the people just walk by you pretending not to see you, but necessity compels you.

horsemouth has a plan to lend/give lou pete seeger and bob reiser’s carry it on - an anthology of radical songs (much more her thing than his) and his copy of 100 songs of toil. he’s just bought the sheet music for six rumainian songs (by bartok) and some scott joplin rags - that should be enough to keep him busy for a while. he’s also learnt the chords to death don’t have no mercy - and is trying to work out the best key to sing it in. soon horsemouth will finish up for the year (and then he will have no money). worse still he won’t have work to distract him.