Comments for The WebsiteTomsblog

Comment on Olympic Ceremony by Joe

Joe — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:16:37 +0000

welcome to China

Comment on Phone-In by Jane Bain

Jane Bain — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:55:14 +0000

Good morning Tom. I just remembered your remark yesterday that I should read your Blog. The ‘helpline’ is wonderfully funny - Hugh liked it too. I got to Tate Modern in time to have a post-lunch glass of wine with our Israeli friends yesterday, then we walked around the gallery and strolled down the South Bank to the National Theatre where we left them early evening. And we talked and talked… There are some old friends that one rarely sees, but with whom one is able to just pick up the thread where one left off the last time, if you know what I mean. Friendships like that are very special and it’s always a real treat to see Giora and Tamar.

Comment on Wild Life by Jane Bain

Jane Bain — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:43:27 +0000

Thank you Tom. It’s very kind of you to include this photo in your blog. But beware, photographers are a bit like fishermen and can bore you for hours with their latest ‘catch’. On the subject of ‘the one that got a away’, if you are not very careful I will send you a picture of a heron holding the flounder it had caught which was so large it could hardly lift it. After many attempts, the heron had to concede defeat and recognise that the dimensions of the flounder were totally incompatible with the dimensions of its throat. Thank goodness we don’t have to eat like that!

Comment on It’s Quiet Out There by Jane Bain

Jane Bain — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:46:45 +0000

Well I’m still here! No, I don’t use Facebook and I can’t see any reason why I would wish to do so. Likewise YouTube. I can’t explain the lack of enthusiasm for online dialogue in your 60-80 demographic. Maybe they are not, like me (and you?), in the habit of logging onto the internet while they drink their first cup of coffee and rub the sleep from their eyes. I now can’t imagine life without the internet and email. Is this sad? I don’t think so. I view the internet as a hugely valuable resource and have even been known to castigate the grandchildren for ‘frivolous’ use of the internet such as playing on-line games. Now this is sad!

Comment on Maundy Thursday by Jane Bain

Jane Bain — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 09:43:56 +0000

Since a client has produced an unexpected pile of data which has to be written up, this Easter is a working weekend for me. On the basis that Maunday Thursday was likely to be the last day of nice weather I took a short Easter break in the morning and went to the Wetlands Centre in Barnes to see the Black Necked Swans and their cygnet. This adorable little bundle of fluff is about a week old and spends most of its time snuggled up on its father’s back. From time to time it wakes up, slides into the water to feed and practise swimming, then wriggles back up into its personalised swansdown duvet. I had a wonderful, though cold walk in the sunshine and watched Little Grebes fishing, then cycled back along the tow path reaching home just as the rain began. Now that the foul weather has started in earnest it’s not so bad being chained to the computer for the rest of the weekend.

Comment on English Composers by Jane Bain

Jane Bain — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:02:34 +0000

This is an interesting one. I think the Ken Russell Elgar film with the horse and the Malvern Hills did a lot to instill a strong sense of Elgar’s ‘Englishness’ for me. And of course the incomparable Jacqueline du Pre helped to bring Elgar to the attention of a whole generation. I don’t know Vaughan Williams at all well, but remember singing some hauntingly beautiful but rather difficult pieces in the distant past - definitely a reminder of the best in traditional English folk music, but not such easy ‘tunes’ to follow. Maybe some of this debate boils down to musical accessibility, but I’m no expert so I’d be delighted if anyone else would like to provide an explanation.

Comment on Culture by Jane Bain

Jane Bain — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:36:49 +0000

I wonder how many Tate members there are among the Research Network membership? For researchers, I would guess that posession of a natural sense of curiosity may well be highly correlated with an interest in music and the arts. As a fellow Tate member, I can strongly recommend the Juan Munoz Retrospective at Tate Modern. I found his sculptures of human figures absolutely fascinating and am planning a return visit next week. There is a room filled with 100, almost identical, shoulder height men, grouped in conversation or standing on their own. The experience of moving between these figures is quite magical. So far I have decided to give the ‘Camden Town Group’ a miss, but your blog has encouraged me to think about seeing the Peter Doig pictures.