horsemouth (the characteristic gestures of the morning)

the rattling old sash windows of horsemouth's room make a very particular sound as he opens them up in the morning. it is because they are old and poorly fitting. for this reason (and because winter is approaching) horsemouth would like them replaced by double glazing. there was a plan to do it two years ago (but then the pandemic intervened). 

horsemouth would like to get some extra insulation up in the attic too (this is probably the cheapest and most cost effective insulation you can do his researches have revealed. 

these are the characteristic gestures of the morning. 

horsemouth's bed is in the bay of the window. he will stand up on it to unhook the curious arrangement that passes for curtains (leaving only a burgundy-ish net curtain. he will then open up the sash window more fully (it being summer). horsemouth still has an hour or two before the sun makes it into the room - his house being broadly south facing and him living in the basement. the steps down from the front hall and the tree that grows in the narrow front garden afford a fair bit of shade. 

there goes sten.

by dint of a strategically placed basket liner horsemouth can hide from his view the bit of the front garden that is devoted to the waste dump. he took some time yesterday to compose it in a more compact fashion (prior to its inevitable departure - here he jokes). 

by placing a compost bin centre to the garden horsemouth has managed to save it from being turned into a waste dump (mostly). the compost bin is simply too stinky to move and thus provides a most effective 'fact on the ground'.  

horsemouth will then clamber off the bed (which is slightly raised to permit better storage underneath it) and walk to the kitchen. he will empty the coffee pot, charge it and put it on the stove. he will then go pee or come back into the bedroom and turn on the computer. he will then remember that he needs a cup for his coffee and go and get it from the bedroom (by this point the coffee pot will have boiled). 

when he has his coffee he will go on facebook and deal with the various likes, comments and messages, then he will open up blogger and start blog-ing. this is where you now find him (engaged in turning his humble existence into prose). he now blogs everyday and posts a once-a-month books read, films watched, gigs attended aide memoire.

yesterday he chatted with john in far off porto. john is back in touch with ze and nuno (which is good) having bumped into nuno on the street. horsemouth and john exchanged book recommendations. john has an e-book copy of a history of reading. they had a discussion about the ethics of life writing - john found the improbably good recall of conversations from childhood off putting in woody guthrie's bound for glory. (horsemouth has it somewhere but has only actually seen the movie).

last night horsemouth made a start on broch's the romantic. in the day he made progress on the master and margarita - the witches sabbat is done (horsemouth detects more of the flavour of gogol in it this time around but it is both gogol's, the gogol of the city and  the gogol of the countryside). 

in the morning horsemouth did the run to the supermarket (aldi) and returned home across the fields with something like 10kgs of food (for someone who lives in a city horsemouth does live in a most rural fashion). horsemouth leans heavily into the carbs (starch). he believes you need bulk (to convince your body it has been fed), sauce for flavour (to encourage your appetite) and protein (and some fat and vitamins) for health. 

remind horsemouth he's got to phone the doctor's - they want to take his blood pressure readings etc. 

horsemouth has finished the coffee (sad to say) he will now get a bowl of museli (or perhaps some toast). later he will have the first of several cups of tea during the day. 

last night he found the guitar tuner again and got the 12 string out and put it in tune and had a quick play round jai guru and such like - on single notes it sounds most like the byrds (perhaps horsemouth will dig out a plectrum and become a flatpicker). 

today is the anniversary of the birth of maupassant (1850). it looks like a bright sunshine-y day out. horsemouth will go for a wander - perhaps to the other supermarket to get some more coffee (horsemouth lives in mortal fear of the price of coffee increasing and mitigates this by keeping a stockpile well in advance). 

ok end blog.