horsemouth is up and he's having his coffee. outside it is grey and damp.

yesterday was payday. horsemouth made the rent for the month (well a notional four weeks). overall he's still a grand better off (as a result of furlough) than he would be normally. he pauses to notice he's written 'we' in the diary. 

horsemouth is in the bottom 1% of earners in the country (it's true - he looked it up). but it's ok because he's not particularly bothered by money (as long as he has enough to live on). he could work more if he put his mind to it but he's decided (particularly in the light of current circumstances) to step back from the pursuit of money. he has cheap(ish) rent, he's a vegetarian. you can't even buy second hand books at the minute. he is sunk beneath taxation (but still has to pay national insurance). 

he is also paying into a works pension, 'saving' if you like, so he could also dip into his savings to the amount that he is saving into his works pension (this would give him an additional £2k a year (enough for the odd bag of chips and an afternoon in the pub). the rent is the major expense (by a long way). 

you will be familiar with these 'musings' of horsemouth if you have read his blog for any length of time. really it is just an effort by him to assert authority over his (somewhat challenged) economic circumstances. 

horsemouth is paying to be where the work is. but is this any longer necessary? he's also paying to be where the fun was - but is this going to come back? and now that horsemouth is older he has different notions of fun that might require a different expression.  

brexit has neatly fucked any notion of 'retiring' early to an EU country with sunshine by making the maximum time you can spend there 3 months in any 6. (ok you can still apply for residency says john). 

if the covid becomes seasonal (as horsemouth suspects it might) then horsemouth (and many in his generation) are looking at lower life expectancy (assuming they don't die still in any of the early waves) and also a limited social life.  

there were a number of points where paganini horror  looked like it might become a class proposition (whenever donald pleasance appears for example). horsemouth was a little disappointed by the 'play paganini backwards' routine - surely they should have swapped the melody for the harmony and vice versa? 

a friend has opined (somewhat controversially) that trump is not a fascist and the shenanigans on capitol hill were not a coup attempt. 

horsemouth doubts that trumps bedside reading is the journalism of mussolini, or the jurisprudence of carl schmitt, or the economic theories of the strasserites but horsemouth is of the opinion that the ideological prerequisites of fascism are pretty light - one big boss man, plenty of obedience, a contempt for democracy. as to it not being a coup horsemouth would be more inclined to believe it was a coup if they'd brought sleeping bags (intending to occupy) or if they'd sounded out the military to make sure they were onside first. 

still early days - if half the people who voted for trump believe the election was stolen, if a proportion of the trump rioters were made up of ex-service people, and given high levels of gun ownership, this is a dangerous situation. the temptation is to minimise it, point to the stupid bison hat, and laugh it off.

the expectation is that democracy is so firmly founded that it cannot fall the reality is that it is a thin layer of plaster covering some distinctly destabilising economic facts and social tensions. is this the high point of it? probably not. horsemouth supposes this is the equivalent of the the kapp putsch.  

there was due to be a zoom chat with howard (about his guitars) but howard was too knackered after work last night. they may do it tonight. 

yesterday a walk out to the abbey.