maybe ah... (in the time of the pandemic)

horsemouth awakes with one of howard's new songs rolling round his head (well that's not true, it didn't start until he was well into his first coffee). it's a very tyrannosaurus rex type tune (and it's said that they were ripping off the incredible string band). horsemouth is now hearing a wordless vocal on the tune, it would be a shame to miss a trick.

other tunes in howard's new set are very heron-ish (which in horsemouth's book is a good thing). 

horsemouth opines it is always a good idea to have another pair of ears on the track (to tell you what is working and what is not working). we are all of us in love with our own creations and stop our ears to the truth about them until it is too late. (your daughter cannot act mrs. worthington)

that said in any group of songs there are always the songs that turn out to have worked and the ones that turn out either not to have been that interesting in the first place. then there are the others where the execution has been botched and not fixed. 

there are (of course) albums where there is not a single bad track on it (forever changes by love, I just can't stop it by the beat, and agents of fortune by the blue oyster cult horsemouth would argue). to make such a record would require real dedication and focus and luck. other than roadhawks (an assembled and through mixed compilation) horsemouth cannot think of a hawkwind album that is reliably good all the way through. 

for a strange moment yesterday howard's photo on the cover of volume three started to resemble eric cantona (horsemouth has no idea what this means). 

soon (november 11th) it will be six months since horsemouth last worked (like actually worked). it is 3 months since he last had the opportunity of working. 3 months since he parted company with his employer. 

he was prepared (in part) for his new economic inactivity by the time of the pandemic and of course by his lifelong habit of being undemployed (and taking the long (academic) summer holiday - actually longer than the academics or school teachers). for horsemouth it was a great relief to find a job where he could just plod on and still make enough to live but after 25 years they took it away from him. now there was a time when horsemouth had plenty of other things on the go but he's not tempted if he doesn't have to (and certainly not while the pandemic itself continues to drag on). 

horsemouth's parents both retired early. his dad it suited (he vastly preferred pottering about and doing the garden to working - he always had an an anti-authoritarian streak to him) for his mother it was a bit more difficult and mixed. she did a number of part-time jobs before settling down into it. they are the classic post war prosperity baby boomer DI2K (double income two kids) ascend the property ladder and retire comfortably family. 

horsemouth is not certain that retirement will suit him. the hobby (music) may not be active enough to keep him interested and the communal endeavour may be just too fucking annoying. 

a friend retired at 60 (but then the pandemic happened). horsemouth wonders what he is making of it. he seems to be doing a lot of painting and going on walks (er. and making music).  

horsemouth's getting money out in advance on his work's pension in a lump sum will turn out to have been a bad idea unless horsemouth drops dead before he hits 67 or unless he invests it in doge coin (or similar cryptocurrency bollocks). 

towards the end of the week he goes for a coffee with martin (to sort things out), wednesday there's supposed to be the reformation of PPE (peter, paul and enza) after a two year hiatus. horsemouth should get on and have a think about the tunes he wants to play.