'do nothing merely out of good resolutions...' (the end of the dragon year. the beginning of the snake year)

'do nothing merely out of good resolutions...'  (h.d. thoreau, this day 1852).

'for a week mr. r. childan had been anxiously watching the mail...' so begins philip k. dick's i-ching haunted the man in the high castle.  a map of the world seems to be stippled (like braille) on the front cover, a hexagram on the back (but quite which one horsemouth cannot tell). . 

the book ends with the hexagram chung fu 'inner truth';

'sun at the top. tui at the bottom. empty in the centre.'  

tui the joyous lake.  

 there is a world where everything went right (but it is not this one). 

'thus visible effects of the invisible manifest themselves'

it is the end of the dragon year. the beginning of the snake year. 

it is also the fifth anniversary of brexit

so how has it gone?

well economically it has been a disaster (opines horsemouth). and politically it has been a disaster. the racists and the chauvinists are emboldened and the ruling class and the institutions stand exposed as useless and duplicitous. 

it's not looking good.

fortunately the parliamentary right in the uk are split between the tories (in long term decline) and reform (so thin as to be practically astroturfed, little more than nigel farage and four million voters).

for the extra-parliamentary right horsemouth has to tell them the british state plays an exceptionally hard game of ball and will gladly batter, arrest and jail them.

meanwhile out in the wilds horsemouth is bored. the weather outside is surprisingly good (but he knows it is way too early to be farting around in the garden). he supposes he could get on with the fencing (going round the outside to avoid being annoyed by inquisitive chickens). 

he has been for a walk on the common and done some litter picking (you mucky mucky people).  he reckons a mum and the kids - costa coffee cup and sweet wrappers. 

kilvert is in hay. he is at the telegraph office. miss watkins (the operator) is holding a private comic conversation with the telegraph operator in hereford. edmond de goncourt reads of the capitulation of the french government. king william is crowned emperor of germany in versailles.