Paul Gravett came down for a visit today, which was a chance not only for him to have a good look around Birmingham, but also for me to see stuff I haven’t seen for ages. There’s much more to Brum than meets the eye, you know.
We had a nice look around the pre-Raphaelite display in the museum/gallery—some stunning work to be seen there. Mom tells me the last time I went there was when I was just about out of nappies.
Nearby, Paul posed for a snap:
Later on, in Bacchus (a rather nice bar near New Street), I made an effort to snap both of us using the camera’s timer. The first attempt was somewhat less than great, but the second try came out okay:
(Nothwithstanding my hasty effort to get back to the table and adopt a semi-natural pose that somehow came out looking like I was fondling myself…)
Incidentally, we found that Borders has copies of Paul’s new book. It’s called Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. Go buy a copy! 🙂
Back home, I got the chance to shock Paul with a snatch of Bowie doing drum’n’bass on 1997’s Earthling album! On a more positive note, he was dead impressed with the sound (and performance) quality on the Bowie NEC concert boot from last November. If DB ever tours again, he’s definitely up for seeing him. We can but hope.
The canine terror that is Fred Junior turned out to be putty in Paul’s hands. I’ve never seen him so docile and lovable before. I have to be envious; Fred’s teeth are coming out at the moment, and all I get from him is constant biting…
BTW, the top half of Paul’s head got caught by Da Webcam during a demonstration of said gadget. I’m saving a copy of this one for posterity. 😉
