Birthday

To be honest I prefer Julie's birthday to my own. In early August each year I enjoy at least two weeks of it, although 'enjoy' might be a debatable term, for it is undoubtedly an emotional minefield which has to be very carefully negotiated. For my birthday, well I find myself stating it, stating it in lectures, on here, whatever, as merely a sort of staging post. As all that is solid melts in to air one might look back at times more solid than these, but personally I have never enjoyed a better situation than fully bearded and slightly edgy within the university system. I am to some considerable extent, enjoying getting older. Of course, as soon as I write this, notice of redundancy surely follows, so like anybody, I must touch wood.

Benevolo points out in his majestic 'History of Architecture' that Victor Horta was the first architect to be, in his own lifetime, somewhat overtaken by events. The subtlety of this observation somewhat anticipates Andy Warhol's 'Everybody will be Famous for Fifteen Minutes' or even David Greene's 'In America anybody can become a Professor of Architecture for Fifteen Minutes'. In which case, I'm done in one way, but not in another.