tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post6113880317049135709..comments2023-07-22T15:44:42.859+01:00Comments on More about the song - rambling with Rachel Fox: So how uninteresting is this book exactly?Rachel Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-49707926445494539822009-07-19T20:55:53.837+01:002009-07-19T20:55:53.837+01:00Interesting new comment on this old post!
I not...Interesting new comment on this old post! <br /><br /><br />I notice there has been more hoo-ha over this book (de Botton complaining about another review, more recently) and it does make you wonder why he didn't see that kind of review coming. Sometimes we can be clever about other things but very stupid about ourselves...certainly I've proved that true myself many times!Rachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-73832263595262705362009-07-08T18:39:53.676+01:002009-07-08T18:39:53.676+01:00For God's sake Alain. You are not an average m...For God's sake Alain. You are not an average middle class 40 year old. You are sending your children to private school: that is not average. You are worth 5m + a house in a very nice part of London: that is not average. Your father was super-rich: that is not average. You went to Cambridge: that is not average. And I beleive you also went to private school yourself: THAT is not average.<br /><br />If you really think that you have achieved all you have achieved (not inconsiderable, granted) by coming from an average middle-class background, then you really are in a weak position to understanding the work place for the 'average' working person today. <br /><br />It's a damn shame all your education didn't make you a little wiser, too.<br /><br />End of story. Now go emigrate and while you're there, try growing up and sending your kids to state school.tertia trustnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-26802591202456011622009-04-21T22:37:00.000+01:002009-04-21T22:37:00.000+01:00Ah marketing...how glad I am that I left that 'car...Ah marketing...how glad I am that I left that 'career' long before it ate me up and spat me out. There's a reason people drink so much in those 'professions'...dulls the pain of slow brain-death.<br /><br />People in marketing often have long and detailed explanations for their decisions (like front covers?) but most of them are...well...just fluff... but generally the fluff gets dressed up with research (and I worked in the research bit...nonsense times nonsense a lot of the time...). What do people really want? They want stuff they like and that is useful to them and most of all not to be thought of as morons, statistics, ABC1s or whatever. Personally if I even feel a sniff of a marketing decision it makes me less likely to buy something (not more). But then I am (as the great Bill Hicks would have said)...fairly representative of the anti-marketing dollar. Or pound...but you get the idea.<br /><br />De Botton has enough of a name now that fans of his would buy his books if they came out in brown paper bags or something. In fact, because that would be different (and I bet his fans, possibly with reason, like to think of themselves as different) they would probably be more likely to buy them that way. Maybe I should call the marketing dept. to discuss the idea...(joke!).<br /><br />And now I'm going to bed! Maybe I'll dream that my book is on the Waterstones 3 for 2 table...but I doubt it. <br /><br />xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-50516355900323275572009-04-21T21:12:00.000+01:002009-04-21T21:12:00.000+01:00Hi Rachel and Deemikay,
I appreciate the replies ...Hi Rachel and Deemikay,<br /><br />I appreciate the replies and therefore all is forgiven on the Pam Ayres front. <br /><br />All harmless in the blogosphere. <br /><br />About the cover, I'll keep that close to my chest if you don't mind, suffice to say that we mocked up several covers of our own which is quite normal. <br /><br />So you were probably on the right track though when you suggested it was a marketing decision, especially if you look at Alain's past books. And about the final title .. look at the Whitman poem title and you might imagine what the book was originally called. <br /><br />There's a Penguin pattern for Alain's covers and titles. Right? <br /><br />I'll come back here too from time to time.<br /><br />Rgds,<br /><br />Richard.Richard Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17478940046605044504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-40644563125028240082009-04-21T19:44:00.000+01:002009-04-21T19:44:00.000+01:00And now we're all friends. That's good.
xAnd now we're all friends. That's good. <br /><br />xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-57188415442197519192009-04-21T19:28:00.000+01:002009-04-21T19:28:00.000+01:00Eek... :/
A message for the Mysterious Richard Ba...Eek... :/<br /><br />A message for the Mysterious Richard Baker:<br /><br />I'll confess straightaway that I still haven't been able to get my hands on the book! So my knowledge of the pictures is based on nothing more than a quick glance through your site. <br /><br />Any one who knows me will know that I didn't mean the Pam Ayres comment as an insult. I was just trying to draw a distinction between one sort of photograph and another ("commercial versus art" if you'd rather... not that there has to be a competition, of course.)<br /><br />From your description of the job itself I'd say it sounds a dream! <br /><br />My experience of professional photographers (like professional musicians) is that they often go through the motions, have-to-pay-the-bills. Any I've had experience of through my job always seem to be wanting to do something else. Most photographers are, I'd imagine, like session musicians - not playing the music they want to.<br /><br />But it was wrong of me to stereotype in that way and I apologise for doing so.<br /><br /><br /><br />Incidentally, my Ayres/Yeats comment went through a thousand combinations of poets and they were the two I ended up with before I got annoyed with myself! I think it was Auden and Eliot to begin with... :)<br /><br />(Oh and interesting blog... I'll return!)deemikayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01421704728979191339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-82404923337531073792009-04-21T17:50:00.000+01:002009-04-21T17:50:00.000+01:00Hello Richard!
Now I just feel overwhelmed by visi...Hello Richard!<br />Now I just feel overwhelmed by visitors! It's a nice feeling though. Why write if not to be read, eh?<br /><br />I asked other visitors to comment on the photo side of things because it is not a subject I know a lot about. I mean... I like photos but I have no technical knowledge whatsoever (for example when you talk about an issue with the b&w repro...I don't really know what you might be talking about there...not really...I am fairly technophobe on most subjects...even poetry sometimes). But anyway...my correspondent in the comments was not being completely serious, I suspect. He writes poetry too...and we're all a bit odd... so don't take it to much to heart! It could be worse...you could have journalists telling half the world that you have millions of pounds that you don't possess!<br /><br />Of course I would love to hear the story of the front cover...writers are very nosy (well, I am). I'll pop to your blog and see if it's on there anywhere!<br /><br />It must have been a great project to work on all the same. Half of me thought it should have been coffee table book size...half of me thought 'no, that would be really wrong for the subject matter'!<br /><br />R<br />xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-26052318809153192762009-04-21T16:03:00.000+01:002009-04-21T16:03:00.000+01:00Hello Rachel,
I am the mysterious Richard Baker w...Hello Rachel,<br /><br />I am the mysterious Richard Baker who worked on Alain’s book as a 'photographer in tow' (as the blurb says). I also stumbled upon this blog and your curious comments. <br /><br />So I'm slightly alarmed .. In all my years as a photographer, I have never been likened to Pam Ayres, nor Yeats! though you may be right - I know who I'd rather emulate in a pretentious sort of way.<br /><br />I hope you won’t mind me sharing an insight or two. Yes, I am a jobbing photographer and as such, I am paid to produce photography for whichever client happens to call and brief me strictly according to the job in hand. <br /><br />For me to receive a call by a writer whom I had long admired was, to put it mildly, a very exciting moment though I have to admit I did stalk him for a few weeks. He also became a client who wanted a particular aesthetic to the pictures for his next book - something that complimented the tone for ideas that were still locked in his head and so we performed a little osmosis and hatched the plot that became The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. <br /><br />In essence, I delivered the imagery he wanted but I was also left to interpret his own inspiring thoughts that came to me as long e-mails or scraps of A4 and either on my own or in many cases we travelled together over a 2-year period. I would photograph and send him low-res which either interested him and led to him elaborating on that theme or it was dropped and we moved on. One entire chapter about the world of couturier Margaret Howell was taken out too. Often I sat at my Mac researching and arranging for him though the sands were forever shifting. <br /><br />So it was probably (maybe with the exception of my own book) the most rewarding and pleasurable job I’ve done so I heartily dispute that I, or other photographers hate doing this sort of thing because I know that several mates would have bitten Alain’s hand to work with him. I therefore feel tremendously lucky to have been asked and would do so again at a drop of a hat! The credit right at the back? Well .. I’m not that sore about it. The cover and the b+w repro? .. now that’s a different story!<br /><br />If I haven’t bored you completely and if you forgive me plugging my own blog, I have written about my experiences at: http://englandspastures.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/song-for-occupations/<br /><br />Best wishes Rachel and thanks for the mention,<br /><br />Richard.Richard Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17478940046605044504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-26875684641587284072009-04-08T22:14:00.000+01:002009-04-08T22:14:00.000+01:00Thanks Art for this full reply. I agree with you a...Thanks Art for this full reply. I agree with you about dialogue...I would have stopped this particular activity ages ago without the interaction and responses and triggers that blogging has thrown up. I don't really know what I expected but, especially for those of us in small towns or out of the way places, blogging allows us to have a wide and varied circle of folk to discuss and learn (and have a laugh) with (as well as our flesh and blood nearby friends too of course!).<BR/><BR/>And I could have asked you about photos too (doh!)...and Roxana. I suppose I knew DMCK worked in a city and would be able to go and see the book easily (or at least I thought so!). <BR/><BR/>You should look at each other's photos - much talent around.<BR/><BR/>xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-26424320146988138412009-04-08T20:39:00.000+01:002009-04-08T20:39:00.000+01:00i think in this review you've made some profound c...i think in this review you've made some profound comments not just on Mr. A de B, but on public intellectuals in general, and their role (often self-appointed) in our society—or lack thereof, precisely because one wonders if poets don't actually contribute more, in their "art is useless but can be revolutionary" way. <BR/><BR/>That last quoted bit is a paraphrase from Octavio Paz, BTW, who was a public intellectual, critic, and poet of the highest caliber (speaking of Dave's guns) in the latter half of the 20th C. I usually tell poet/critics to read Paz, and Conrad Aiken, if they really want to learn how to write criticism well.<BR/><BR/>I love the long length that you went to in this review, and that in the end, your response is still equivocal. That says so much to me about the book under review that it becomes a very, very useful review. (More reviewers ought to emulate you with this kind of review writing!) And my response to de Botton's writings probably match yours rather closely—equivocal, not always convinced, but willing to listen—which makes this review very useful to me indeed. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, regarding being a public intellectual: It often is a thankless and unrewarding task. I sympathize with the desire to think about life and its many meanings that lies behind the urge. Since I have a couple of blogs that people do actually seem to read, I suppose in my own (very!) small way I too am a public intellectual—albeit not a well-known, oft-published one that the media gets all lathered about with each publication. It's the economics of scale at work: I am a smaller target, because I've a smaller readership. Actually, I'm content with it to be that way. (Not that I lack ambition as a writer, but rather that I enjoy being a small target rather than a large one.) Thinking things through while talking out loud is always fun, if risky, and prone to sometimes missing the point. It can indeed be hard work, with a lot of effort put into it, rewarded or otherwise. But hard work has never been a guarantee of success, or even of getting it right, no matter what the job was.<BR/><BR/>I have a special interest in travel writing, especially creative non-fiction built around experiences had while traveling. Bryson would not be near the top of my list of favorite travel writers, but he's on the list regardless.<BR/><BR/>And the blogosphere itself has changed what a public intellectual is, or can be. I'm thinking of Mark Vernon's excellent blog, for one; I view him as public intellectual of high caliber. The instant response you can get on a blog can lead to constructive dialogue as well as fact-checking or name-calling; those are all common options. The point is, however, that it's a DIALOGUE. A book published by a public intellectual has traditionally been a monologue, responded to perhaps in reviews such as yours here does, but overall, he who wrote the published tome has traditionally had the louder voice.<BR/><BR/>Now that's all changing. Your review, and its responses, are proof of that trend, right here, right now. I applaud every aspect of that.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-16285969166703708552009-04-08T19:53:00.000+01:002009-04-08T19:53:00.000+01:00p.s. I can't believe I didn't mention the Irish in...p.s. I can't believe I didn't mention the Irish in the list of commenter nationalities further up! Some of my finest visitors.<BR/>Sorry folks.<BR/>And of course there's Roxana who is...Romanian I think...<BR/><BR/>xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-76828040107458884512009-04-08T19:42:00.000+01:002009-04-08T19:42:00.000+01:00That's where I thought it would be as well... on t...That's where I thought it would be as well... on the new releases wall. <BR/><BR/>It is a giant shop... and has a lovely big 20/25 feet of poetry section. And comfy chairs. And the cafe is great for staring down at the people below and daydreaming... and I work less than 5 minutes from it. :)deemikayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01421704728979191339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-20264757811009777992009-04-08T19:33:00.000+01:002009-04-08T19:33:00.000+01:00At this stage in Borders I would expect the de B b...At this stage in Borders I would expect the de B book to be fairly near the front of the shop. But I might be wrong. Is that Glasgow centre shop you're in? I went in once.....huge! And that gallery cafe thing.<BR/><BR/>As for the Tragic Life Stories...big business, monster business. They're quite addictive (so I hear from the odd friend who reads them). <BR/><BR/>xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-79040651787662384532009-04-08T19:08:00.000+01:002009-04-08T19:08:00.000+01:00I regret to inform you that in my mad dash to Bord...I regret to inform you that in my mad dash to Borders at lunchtime I couldn't see the book! Nor did they have it in WH Smiths! (My mad dash didn't allow a trip to Waterstones...)<BR/><BR/>I shall attempt again tomorrow. <BR/><BR/>Interesting question, though, is where does this book get put in the book shop? In my mad-dash-wanderings in WH Smiths today I discovered they have a section called "Tragic Life Stories". How depressing...deemikayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01421704728979191339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-38053714640379047152009-04-08T14:35:00.000+01:002009-04-08T14:35:00.000+01:00Thanks Susan. You're a well-travelled woman, aren'...Thanks Susan. You're a well-travelled woman, aren't you? So much for a quiet book review this week though.<BR/><BR/>All a bit manic here too with the girl still ill and me not much better and we're meant to be heading south...why is it always when you have to go away that everyone gets ill! My head is banging!!<BR/><BR/>xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-74311201727991048572009-04-08T14:18:00.000+01:002009-04-08T14:18:00.000+01:00Rachel, a big thank you for this one.I saw this bo...Rachel, a big thank you for this one.<BR/><BR/>I saw this book reviewed in the Irish Tribune/Indo/Times or something, not sure--and at the time, I didn't even read the review. I thought, 'a book about work? Ha!' If I touched it (I thought) I'd have a rash. Blaaah.<BR/><BR/>I'd never heard of Alain de Botton, either. We have neither TV nor radio and we're soooo rural: I had no idea who he was.<BR/><BR/>After reading your take on the book, I thought it might be more interesting than I'd assumed; perhaps, maybe, someday, IF I saw it in the library, ok, I'd poke throught it.<BR/><BR/>Then Himself appeared in the comments--- I *like* this man! And had to laugh at his emigrate/kill myself/never write again; any writer could sympathise with that I think. So now I might even touch that book in a <I>bookstore</I>. I think I'll have a look.<BR/><BR/>And <I>écoute</I>, having spent my younger years in la Suisse Romande of course has nothing to do with liking him, hein? LOLSusan at Stony Riverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10385202649291774852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-29133651743900492562009-04-08T13:29:00.000+01:002009-04-08T13:29:00.000+01:00Yes...you never know who's reading...xYes...you never know who's reading...<BR/><BR/>xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-75088953103657041082009-04-08T13:25:00.000+01:002009-04-08T13:25:00.000+01:00oh no, now I really am embarrased at my childishne...oh no, now I really am embarrased at my childishness!Marion McCreadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04657757253873577465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-91604137658797184282009-04-08T11:12:00.000+01:002009-04-08T11:12:00.000+01:00Thanks Deemikay for your comments on the photos. I...Thanks Deemikay for your comments on the photos. I look forward to the results of your field trip.<BR/><BR/>And Green Ink...thanks for looking in. You might like his books, I think, especially as you're not British!<BR/><BR/>And A de B. Hello. Thanks for calling in. I have added a note re the £200m in the original post and apologise for quoting from newspapers that had got their numbers wrong. It very much seemed from the articles that this info about money was accepted information and that you were fine with it. I wouldn't have mentioned it but for the fact that if it were true it does have connotations for attitudes to paid work. I wouldn't have mentioned it in a article about a book about love or architecture or Proust I don't think.<BR/><BR/>Commenters here are Scottish, English, North American, Canadian, Australian...just thought I should add that in.<BR/><BR/>I guess Swiss makes the harshest comments...funny because I have a sneaking suspicion you would get on in real life! Just a suspicion, mind. He's a passionate kind of guy...lots of thoughts on work...could have been a good interview for the book. Personally I thought Dave's 'pseudo-intellectual' was the harshest blow (and he's normally so lovely too!). We all have our moments...<BR/><BR/>I think all this does bring up the problem of public image. Anyone who gets a lot of coverage (and you get LOADS!) is bound to get positive and negative reactions...and strong ones often. At one point in my life I thought I wanted to be widely known as a writer but the older I get the more I see the down side of success with writing too (other writers will pick you to pieces...). Maybe just living quietly here is not so bad after all.<BR/><BR/>p.s. I did emigrate...from England anyway...and can highly recommend it. As for killing yourself...as people never tire of saying to me (daughter of a suicide)...think of the children. They fuck you up your mum and dad...and all that.<BR/><BR/>xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-57307840936730105602009-04-08T10:28:00.000+01:002009-04-08T10:28:00.000+01:00This is an extraordinarily dense and fair review. ...This is an extraordinarily dense and fair review. Thank you so much.<BR/><BR/>There's very little to add - only a few comments on the comments. There seems to be an awful lot of fantasies about money going on. Very sadly, I don't have £200m that I don't touch. As my bank details are of real interest to the group, I'm worth about £5m + a house in London which I've accumulated through 15 years of writing, journalism and TV projects. I have 2 small children that my wife and I educate privately. My father sold a business he'd started for £200m - BUT he didn't own all his business, in fact, he was a minority shareholder and in the end pocketed something close to £20m. On his death, sudden, unexpected and will-less, it all went to his wife, my stepmother. So I have no trust fund, I am not worth £20m - and surprise surprise have to work very very hard to keep myself going. I could take it easy for a few years, but that's not my style.<BR/><BR/>As for being some poncey layout about rich boy, it's really hard to get a sense of someone from an author photo, but I can reassure you that I'm an ordinary not especially posh, not especially anything 40 year old who dresses in clothes from GAP, drives an 8 year old VW Golf, and spends most of his spare time at the indoor play center with children's snot over him.<BR/><BR/>Quite frankly, the reviews I've read of my work and the profiles make me want to a) emigrate b) kill myself c) never write again.<BR/><BR/>The injustice in them seems extraordinary. Of course, my book isn't perfect, but it's a decent shot at something not entirely revolting and yet from reading some of them, it's as though I'm Oscar Wilde who has killed innocent children and chuckles at the miseries of the world from his gold plated limousine.<BR/><BR/>As for this idea that I never worked, I'm Swiss for goodness sake. Do you know the sort of work ethic the average Swiss person has? Growing up in Switzerland, we all chuckle at how lazy the English are - for us, they're Mediterraneans without the charm. I outwork any of my critics, I'm sure. I've had about 8 weeks of holiday in the last 10 years. I've written nine books since the age of 23: excuse me, does anyone think that happens just by itself? I've made 25 hours of television? Does anyone know how long it takes, and how hard you have to work to do that? I run a TV production company, I helped to set up a school, it's 10.30am and I have 12 meetings today and will finally get to sleep past midnight. So please guys, don't lecture me on hard work, or money. <BR/><BR/>I understand it's hard to keep your projections in check, but please try. You don't know me, remember. You know someone with my name on a book + an author photo and some gossip in a paper. A human being is a very different thing.<BR/><BR/>But thanks again for that reviewAlain de Bottonhttp://www.alaindebotton.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-71719567159137065932009-04-07T23:17:00.000+01:002009-04-07T23:17:00.000+01:00A well thought out and thorough review - you're ev...A well thought out and thorough review - you're every writers dream reviewer, I'd say!<BR/><BR/>At uni, I went through a stage of "intellectualising" nearly everything - from Sex and the City to interactions with bank customers. I like the idea that everything has meaning behind it.<BR/><BR/>But having said that, I've not read A de B. Maybe I should.<BR/><BR/>xgreen inkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10955967846673578879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-59012975254185790592009-04-07T23:16:00.000+01:002009-04-07T23:16:00.000+01:00Mission accepted! I shall write a nowhere-near-as-...Mission accepted! I shall write a nowhere-near-as-comprehensive report after have a sneaky swatch in Borders tomorrow lunchtime. :)<BR/><BR/>On the, well, subject of "conventionally dull subjects". Just today at work I was asked if I had any photographs of some houses... I asked what they wanted them for. For inclusion in an internal report. "Well, I can give you some dull, boring ones I took because we have nothing else." <BR/><BR/>Functional photos for a work-related function. Not arty photos to go "woah" at... And here's the thing, I'm rubbish at functional photos. It's one aspect of my work I'm no good at...<BR/><BR/>***<BR/><BR/>Halfway through writing this I went to Richard Baker's website and found images used in the book.<BR/><BR/>A quick look - they seem like photographs taken by a professional photographer on a paid job. They're work-a-day photos. Bread-and-butter photos. Exactly that kind I'm rubbish at. And also why I could never make money as a photographer. <BR/><BR/>They are also the kind of pictures photographers hate doing... they want to be Ansel Adams or Mapplethorpe or Steichen or Diane Arbus or blah blah blah...<BR/><BR/>To take it back to poems - the photographs are Pam Ayres (technically competent amd non-controversial, easily ignored), but the photographer wants to be Yeats.<BR/><BR/>This may, or may not, be an important part of the book... <BR/><BR/>I ramble... :)deemikayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01421704728979191339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-50226913771456566532009-04-07T15:05:00.000+01:002009-04-07T15:05:00.000+01:00Indeed that is one way forward, comrade Swiss.xIndeed that is one way forward, comrade Swiss.<BR/>xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-22149920989490499382009-04-07T14:45:00.000+01:002009-04-07T14:45:00.000+01:00slap him round his baldy head with a copy of down ...slap him round his baldy head with a copy of down and out in paris and london i say. then send him off to work with some immigrants round about here doing the fruit farms. that'd sort out his ideas about work!swisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17924594772578153947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564859019305736550.post-67474119602604842892009-04-07T14:10:00.000+01:002009-04-07T14:10:00.000+01:00There are bits in the new book where de B still ge...There are bits in the new book where de B still gets humour from being a bit 'up himself'. And they are funny. But then where does a person go from there? Do they get down out of themselves and do something else..? You have to hope so...<BR/><BR/>I think.<BR/>xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.com