under another sun

Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes Now utterly hooked on listening to The Lord of the Rings on my iPod. And although it pains me to write this: Anton was right. He told me that I'd experience it differently as an audiobook. Very soothing hearing about hobbits meeting elves in the Shire as you fight your way onto the tube at Victoria station. Groundhog day at the office: a morning meeting to agree our direction which then the Gnome and me worked on all day. Then at 5pm another meeting which revealed a changed strategy which rendered our whole day fruitless. When they said yes this morning, the actually meant no. Also heard that we lost the pitch last Wednesday despite my stunning performance. Bah. Escaped this, and met Sarah Freems in the Oriole in Sloane Square after work. I enjoyed the people-watching while I waited for her, but we left as soon as she turned up as she doesn't like it there. Instead we sloped off to a pub that Fras knows, where ...

Velázquez with Bob Two excellent things today. I went swimming for the first time in months today, albeit slowly and gingerly. Felt a fleeting feeling of well being after which was excellent. In the evening went off with Mad Dog, (now mid-transformation into SAD Dog due to the lack of light) to the Velázquez exhibition at the National Gallery. This very good fun. There were 46 pictures there, some of which I'd seen before. Found myself very interested in some of the work. He has a trick of making the less "important" people the subjects of the paintings. Two I liked in particular were kitchen scenes painted around 1618 -- when the artist was about 19. In both pictures are serving hatches which are like frames into another world. In one you can see Mary and Martha with Christ, and in the other you can see a newly resurrected Christ with two apostles. Compositionally much more important are the people in the kitchen however, and for me this lead to to much enjoyable specula...