two stories in synopsis

on this day a year ago horsemouth was waking up to the fact that a quarter of italy had just gone into lockdown. up to this point he had been dimly aware of the coronavirus, but that bit of news entirely succeeded in focusing his thoughts. to his credit historical horsemouth seems to have caught on pretty fast. he thought we were 'a couple of weeks' behind italy (and so it turned out to be). 

an artist (ben eastham) is stuck in a flat in an athens in lockdown (says his article in art review). there are demonstrations. riot police try to storm the university nearby. he cannot understand what is going on because he does not speak the language. he focuses his attention on the picture on the wall of the spare bedroom he is living in. (it is a remake (of sorts) of hockney's a bigger splash). 

he has only his summer clothes.

down from the picture (in the photo of the spare bedroom), a book. j.g. ballard's myths of the near future (possible first edition bill botten cover). 

horsemouth blew up the photo in the browser, thought he could read j.g. ballard and then googled j.g. ballard book covers until he found it. then he looked it up on wikipedia. he likes snooping around other people's bookshelves.

 

two stories (in synopsis) stand out. (horsemouth quotes)

'1. "Having a Wonderful Time" - Written in the form of postcards, the story chronicles a young couple who vacation on the Canary Islands, but their flight home is repeatedly cancelled until it becomes apparent that they—along with thousands of other families vacationing—will never return home, and have been forever exiled.

2. "The Intensive Care Unit" - The story takes place within a society in which everyone is isolated, living alone and communicating (much like webcams) through their TVs. A young family tries to kill each other after they decide to meet in person.'

good old j.g. taking the contrary position on human sociability. 

ben eastham's position - well that's very ballardian. (see story 1) presumably at some point the greek authorities will deport him. story 2 - well this is our condition. we are all promised that we are going to meet up and we are told it will be wonderful. 

allegedly we are moving towards the out door of the crisis, a sunny upland of spending and leisure awaits. but wait, haven't we been here before, ah yes but it will be  all different this time now that we have the vaccine. 

ah the vaccine that is proof against all new variants as they appear? 

er. well. no. 

that track and trace that will definitely work to catch outbreaks early on?

er. well. no.

horsemouth hopes to get vaccinated. he will then return to being pretty fucking careful. he doesn't think much of an escape over the summer is possible (but then he's already had a quarter of the year off at his folks). 

meghan and harry 

here, once again, horsemouth  is ducking his responsibilities when the conversation comes up. history (the psychodrama) is repeating. really horsemouth does not care about the rich or the royals. he views it as the possibility of change. 

today some work. (but first a morning off).