horsemouth back from the mari llwyd llundain

once, when horsemouth was a child in wales in the 70ies, his father’s friends arrived to drag him out for a pint - they arrived with a sheep or horse’s skull on a stick (which they banged on the window with). this, and an outbreak of oranges and lemons were the only two folkloric things horsemouth can ever remember having witnessed (ok he tells a lie a kid once showed him a dead wren in a matchbox and told him it was the king of the birds).


it started in the boot on cromer street - horsemouth was there early - the locals were moaning about the pub being full (but admitted it would help with the finances). horsemouth got a beer and then hung around near the dartboard - then outside on the benches when he got the phonecall from max. they went in, glyn arrived. song sheets were distributed - there was an attempt at a practice but the pub was too noisy. so horsemouth, glyn and max adjourned to the outside (where they exchanged their limited knowledge of the proceedings and the welsh language - because, horror of horrors, the lyrics were in welsh (mostly).

and then the mari lwyd arrived -  the shivering horse’s skull on a stick, clacking its jaw, decked with ribbons the operator being semi-hidden under a white sheet. the horse wanted admittance to the pub. knock, knock, and those in the outside party began singing - wel dyma ni’n dwad, gyfeillion diniwad... horsemouth, emboldened by the best part of a pint (and a little practice in the afternoon to the video) tried to sing along. in this he was helped by two things, the fact that everyone else was singing and this hid when he was singing the wrong note or pronouncing words incorrectly. the fact that the first line is repeated twice (so horsemouth could ecoute et repete and bodge the pronunciation), ditto the second line is repeated three times, the final line is (roughly a third of the time) nos heno. after three verses the inside party sing answering verses - presumably about letting the mari in (or not) - after 14 verses the matter is decided, the mari admitted and  mari’s triumphant song is sung - 3 verses in welsh, 4 in english, and a final verse in welsh.

having assisted the mari’s entry horsemouth and his companions nipped on to what they thought was the next pub (but turned out to be the final pub on the route on greys inn road) and, after a quiet pint upstairs, assisted the mari’s entry yet again. they then nipped across the road to the london welsh centre and continued drinking. there was a celdih upstairs (organised, like the rest of the evening by the spring heeled- jacks) but horsemouth did not dance. he chatted up a woman from seattle and had a photo taken with the mari. (and then the bus home and a bag of chips).

so (after the excitement of the mari llwyd) horsemouth was a dirty stop in last night - he missed the gwenifer raymond gig - he sent myk in his place. myk reported that gwenifer was almost polysyllabic - something about twenty pounds and vinyl, the p.a. was crap and the tuner unco-operative, so there were a few fucks as well. instead horsemouth watched black lake - scandimisery, obscure personal improvement courses, an island with a dark history, woolly jumpers (lots of woolly jumpers).

monday horsemouth has off - the laptop just came back from the dead having had coffee spilled on it (loud were horsemouth’s curses - visions of having to buy a new computer monday etc.)