'playing chess with the devil (by the deep blue sea)... I'm castling my king (but the tide is coming in)...'

'careless and heedless storytelling, if universalized as law, would completely self-destruct, for no-one would be willing to tell stories ina world like that.'  - claudia mills, friendship, fiction, memoir.

horsemouth is successfully in ________ (with various members of his family). 

horsemouth had been anxious about the journey down (but it turned out ok in the end) he assumes that having seen the way down the journey back up will be even smoother (a dangerous assumption). the only hiccup (from horsemouth's point of view) was a portion of the route through georgian bath (familiar to viewers of outlaw bookseller's posts - and past beckford lane (you will have heard horsemouth talk of william beckford before).  

bath has a CAZ designed to keep big polluting vehicles out of the city. horsemouth was initially concerned that it was a congestion charge of some sort and that the car would be affected (and charged) but (after a tour of government websites) it seems not. 

yesterday/ last night - a few games of chess. first with his brother's son (sweet victory) and then with his brother (bitter defeat). his brother played the castling strategy early, horsemouth the mobile king (or rather the mobile king strategy was forced on him and he was unable to crack his brother's castle). horsemouth has never been very much of a chess player (he lacks the brains and he lacks the caution). he is of the opinion that chess games are lost by incorrect or pointless moves,  rather than won by 'clever' moves. his brother takes his time to consider his moves - horsemouth tends to push ahead, to have a strategy. he views it as a military game in terms of mobilisation - sort of like WW 1 (this may be a mistake). but like life things cannot be forced through

his brother's daughter has got her grade 8 singing exam (bloody hell! well done!) she sang gabriel faure's les roses d'ispahan as one of her pieces (so another member of horsemouth's family who has sung in french).

today a trip over to wells (if horsemouth has understood the itinerary correctly). when everybody has woken up and breakfasted.