south london wander (over the hills and far away)

 

so horsemouth is back from his south london wander and taking a morning off to recover. 

himself and howard began on the steps of st. pauls. crossing the wobbly (or millenium) bridge they made a brief divergence in search of crossbones cemetery (sadly it was shut but they looked through the railings). then down towards the newington causeway bit of elephant and castle.

soon they had escaped into the new london of pedestrianised pseudo-public spaces. 

their route was the recently instituted (well 2 years ago) green link route from wood street to peckham (as demonstrated in its entirety by john rogers). in this they were only partially successful not having the map but relying on the signage and howard's phone.

from the new london around elephant and castle into the old london of the old estates. 

they pressed on through burgess park (by the lakes) and then down the dried up route of the grand surrey canal to peckham library. 

here they paused for refreshment in a wetherspoons the kentish drover (tea, coffee, chips in curry sauce) before deciding to head up into the hills and visit the horniman museum. 

had horsemouth realised how vertical the ascent was to the horniman he would have declined. eventually they gained the top of the hill and lay in the shade of the trees admiring the view to the west. 

their main interest in the horniman was the musical instruments gallery. they were too tired to attend to the taxidermied animals. 

the whole walk there was probably about six miles all told.

they then descended into forest hill in search of beer 

finding a bearable bar they sat outside and drank and discussed weighty matters (two pints and some chips) and then another pub (a further two pints). the second pub was probably their mistake (or maybe the second beer in the second pub). 

they then made their way home. horsemouth doesn't feel too bad on it (but he does have the morning to recover).  

today a wander in the hills of high barnet (and possibly some second hand book-shopping). 

city island (aka. atlantis)

 ok yesterday afternoon and horsemouth is back indoors. 

he went out to see an old friend and then wandered down to roman road, mile end through TH cemetery park, chrisp street market, aberfeldy, heron wharf, bow ecology, city island (aka. atlantis), east india dock basin and the BACK. 

in crisp street market he tried to take photos documenting the former communal endeavour stock but gradually he changed over to selfies imagining himself in the new london.

especially round heron wharf. 

it is slightly ironic because it is the 75th anniversary of the festival of britain  which gave us chrisp street market in the first place.

the regeneration of which is now stuck in development hell/ court cases etc.)

eventually he reached the thames and the smell of salt water. 

on his way back he called in at walthamstow market to do some book buying - in particular the copy of enthusiasm he had seen the night before, but also bruno's dream (iris murdoch), and the paris review (issue 215)  he bought these with cash. 

today there is a plan for a walk. horsemouth is meeting howard at a particular location at a particular time but where they are going from there he does not know. 

books, films, gigs, events july 2026

 books

- enthusiasm by neil cummings and marysia lewandowska 

- biography of anna akhmatova

- teffi memories: from moscow to the black sea

- lawrence durrell, ceasar's vast ghost

- kilvert, diaries

- imagining new ways to live by michelle gurule (LARB)

- the narrow road to the deep north basho

-  a little of seeing england (antiquarians, travellers and naturalists) which ends with the naturalist gilbert white of selborne in hampshire

- nicholas royle confessions of a book collector

-  the ice monkey by m.john harrison

- NLR 159 such articles as are free

- GDN how would britain look under PR?

- GDN review of christopher priest and nina allan  book on j.g. ballard

- foul means james butler

- LRB susannah clapp at dungeness

- 

films

- l'homme sans visage  a french mini-series first broadcast 17th july 1975

- gwenifer raymond interview

- adam tooze on andy burnham, manchesterism and thus engels

- the anna lapwood  transcription of hans zimmer's 'chevaliers de sangreal'

- aaron bastani meets peter apps (housing)

- why birthrates are falling everywhere (smartphones)

- ira sachs on je tu il elle

gigs wave debb online stuff

events

memorial event for mickey mann (didn't go but important anyway), weirdshire six hours of drone made available, horsemouth masterminds the new london. 

a proposal to weight bells the same (interesting)

in the morning a wander round with TG hugging every possible bit of shade. down along the canal to the forest, cross over the road and back up to the river. 

dogs

dogs and children

owners and parents

34C out there right now (allegedly). in the afternoon horsemouth cowered indoors at his brother's house. 

hereinafter it's getting a bit cooler. 

he was off out later to see minty. 

while he was waiting for minty and jacqueline he saw enthusiasm by neil cummings and marysia lewandowska in the window of the oxfam shop (but it was shut). this deals with polish film clubs. (horsemouth is tempted to go back and get it). 

a proposal to weight bells the same (interesting). 

travel

ok so he made it onto the bus (despite an attempt to get on the 442 at pontrilas and go to abergavenny). having got onboard the 23 it was from then on fairly straightforward. he got to the station and got the fare he remembered. he was on the birmingham train by 1026 and at 1040 they were off. they were 10 minutes or so late into birmingham and then a scrabble for the LNR to euston. (which was really busy). time only for a 100% markup sandwich.

the train turned out to be on 4a and another train to be departing before horsemouth's very eyes on 4c. a gates admission/ re-admission problem. 

and so the slow(ish) grind through the british countryside. horsemouth mostly snoozed through the journey. 

getting into euston three-ish and then the schlepp out to howard's. 

horsemouth and howard went pretty much immediately to the pub with pizza and attempted a pizza and beer thing (such as they usually do) but were defeated by the heat (perhaps they should have stayed in the bar which had aircon). they listened to don cherry.   

they retreated to howard's back garden and drank tea and water instead.  

then horsemouth headed up to his brother's house - to barking and then over on the suffragette line to walthamstow queens street and so on. 

today TG and minty. friday a walk with howard.

using irregular routes to evade detection by paranoia (and a dream)

 yesterday ok (phew) 

horsemouth has just finished off swapping the bedding in his usual bedroom so his brother can sleep there for the next week, sorting out the stuff to take with him for his trip to the wen, moving himself into the spare bedroom (for one night), and going up the hill to sylvia's to drop off two week's supply of eggs. 

so has he been busy enough to assuage his usual anxiety? nearly. 

in the evening his brother came. 

in the morning horsemouth heads off to the wen (using irregular routes to evade detection by his paranoia). 

in the morning a strange dream, arrival at a small railway station(?) in the countryside. horsemouth gets into a small wooden one person people mover that bangs through various doors and down various ramps and then off down the lanes (but not in the direction of the village). it's very victorian technology. very polished wood. brass and glass. 

after a while in one narrow lane part of the road is closed off and it is flooded. the people carrier pushes the this side only construction  a little up the road and then comes to a halt. 

and horsemouth wakes up. 

looks like he is walking to the bus. but (never say never) it looks like some of his prayers have been answered. 

his plan is pretty much; 

howard tuesday afternoon. TG wednesday morning. minty wednesday evening/ afternoon as is. 

thereafter we have to see. he thinks he's booked saturday and sunday afternoon. he wants to go and visit elephant and castle to check out the gentrification there and grosvenor square (to check out the new garden). he might go out and visit barking riverside again (anywhere where concrete is being poured).

  

horsemouth has sworn at the computer a few times - now he feels better...

so a wander into the village 

to buy some bread and the hereford times (so about 2 miles all told). 

on the way back (via the football pitch) horsemouth saw a slow worm. 

there was some to-and-fro about the need to buy sausages and bacon. horsemouth argued he could do it tomorrow. 

there was then some issue with mum's hearing aids. resulting in a hunt to try and find a piece of paper telling them what make they were so that horsemouth could look up how best to use them. they are stretta hearing aids (it says on the hearing aid itself) but of what type is not obvious (allegedly they can be bluetoothed to an app). 

anyway volume control actually used - better results (allegedly). 

hmmn it seems to be raining. (more trying to). 

golden valley parkway

well this would be very useful to horsemouth but it has been left out of the council's long-term plan. similarly a station called hereford parkway at rotherwas is MIA. 

horsemouth is about to do some travelling 

it will mean getting a bus down the valley to pontrilas and then getting another bus into hereford or abergavenny to get the train (or the bus) to the wen or any other city. 

his usual route these days is via birmingham because, while it is the longest, it is the cheapest also. 

now horsemouth does not mind this and it does not affect his willingness to visit the wen (it's a rare journey)  but the expense of the buses  does affect his willingness to go into hereford and spend his money there. similarly he is less likely to travel on to hay-on-wye, bromyard, ludlow etc.  and spend his money there. 

the cost of getting in and out of town was about £8 (it may have gone down to £6 as a result of andy burnham). horsemouth does not qualify for free bus travel until he is 67. 

but further (as an example) there is no bus service on sundays. as an example weekdays and saturdays the last bus out of hereford at night is 6.30pm (and that's all folks!). 

the likelihood is that a train from pontrilas would run later and be comparable in cost.

mind you horsemouth can't see the ticket that he needs for his journey to the wen 

(the one via the cheap route) because the website is fucking shit. he knows it is possible and he has done it before but can he get the machine to show it him (can he fuck). 

ok so horsemouth has sworn at the computer a few times. now he feels better. 

he's just back from a quick walk on the common

he's just back from a quick walk on the common. he will delay feeding the chickens for a while. his mum is having a snooze. 

it's the morning

horsemouth is up and has fed the chickens. he'll be back out again to do the watering. (such watering as he is doing). it looks like rain but the weather forecast says it wont. he's not sure what the reservoir levels are like. his brother comes this evening. he's away tomorrow morning.