in the woods and home again (may day +1))

oof. horsemouth is a little wiped out. busy day yesterday.

first the blogging (and all of the usual). 

then a journey out to epping forest. a wait at the tube station. horsemouth had an espresso and a fried egg sandwich while he was waiting (delicious). he noted the movements of significant locals in his diary (erm. don't you think this might be a bit difficult to explain away horsemouth, don't you think it is in fact a little creepy. perhaps an effort to retain the moment in memory like joan didion). 

eventually howard arrived and they went off to the woodland (via the high street which horsemouth noted had some good looking pubs and plenty of charity shops). 

in the woods the traffic noise faded away and they were left with bird song, howard was particularly interested in finding a bathing pond dug by unemployed workers as apart of a government make-work scheme in the 1890ies. (they found it)

eventually (souls reconstituted by exposure to nature) they returned to the high street and managed to delay having a beer by visiting an oxfam. (horsemouth will let you into a secret - it was a good well stocked oxfam with cheap pre-internet prices). howard bought a travel guide to the US north east coast seaboard. horsemouth recommended some books he has on the region (well ok actually on nearby regions), you know the sort of thing thoreau's walden, a history on nantucket etc.(now all he has to do is find them in the stacks). 

then the pub. the george and dragon looked a bit pricey but the black lion looked nice and snug. outback they found a beer garden and settled down to drink a pint (timothy taylor's landlord). sadly (and with no discernable cause) howard started to suffer from hayfever/ allergy and so they were forced to curtail their drinking (despite doing a run out for anti-histamines) and make a dash for home.

there were photos (courtesy of howard) they have met with moderate approval. 

on the walk back up from the tube horsemouth got a phonecall from minty and (calling in to get his guitar - he took the resonator) nipped round there for a jam. martin had been round earlier. minty and horsemouth set up in the garden and played through some of their old stuff (and some new stuff minty has been working on since with jacqueline). 

soon enough they were played out and adjourned to the kitchen for a chat.

thence horsemouth returned home.

today it is a grey morning. the week starts on the wrong foot on a tuesday.