Month: July 2013

… Dai Lowe. A nihilistic legend amidst the online writing community.

It may disappoint folk to hear that he’s actually incredibly jolly and smiley. It’ll be less of a surprise to hear he’s witty, informed, charming and entertaining.

He talks about food. I adore foodie talk. So we did talk food for a bit – Spanish, mainly – and then about films… I like relatively obscure, foreign stuff, and it’s always good to get new tips. Dai, I think, has a stronger stomach than I for the more experimental and oft raw offering… but there was common ground on some things and a few recommendations I shall doubtless try out. Literature, life, love… I could happily have stayed and chatted for hours but, alas, he had to catch another train.

Dai is on a tour of Poignant Personal Places – he calls it his Farewell tour of the UK, measured in Cappuccinos… but he’s not really leaving, though today he did show me the map marking his tour, and the ditch in which he wishes, at some point, to curl up in the rain and die. But I suspect he’ll plod on for a bit yet. He’s barely started the tour and the weather’s too good to die in a ditch in the rain. You can follow his exploits here: Chasing the Frothy Bubbles.

As Dai’s also an artist, I figured this was good enough excuse to doctor the only photo taken today which had (for me at least) come out quite bizarrely unflattering… damn that barista and his poor camera skills. It’s not so bad now. And it sort of reflects the heat of the day…

“… fond of fun and therefore witty, wit being well-bred insolence.”

Aristotle ~ Rhetoric, Book II

Aristotle knew a thing or two about man – his strengths, his flaws, his hopes, his fears. Such understanding brings an awareness of how to engage, in order that man performs at his best. Understanding desire is the key to success in communication. It takes talent to extract the best from people. It takes talent to truly understand what they want.

And thus I introduce Freddie – man of many talents in the field of communication and beyond, a fine observer and commentator on modern and ancient Life, a man in possession of the most erudite wit I know, a sharp mind and an effective lightness of treatment… all of which surely epitomizes Aristotle’s well-bred insolence.

If you haven’t checked out his blog at Oomkenscom I’d heartily recommend you do so. It too takes talent – and experience – to apply intelligent insight and entertain whilst still provoking thought… and it takes character to do so with what I think is an admirable deftness of touch.

Aristotle also said:

“…all the valuable qualities that youth and age divide between them are united in the prime of life.”

Amen to that, say I.