believe only in the world you can touch

An interesting day. I spent as much of the morning and early afternoon speed-reading as much of The God Delusion as was politely possible given the parents' presence in order to have some background to the discussion at Dawkins's appearance at the Book Festival this afternoon. Muriel Gray was the host but spoiled it a little by seeming a little more sycophantic and over-effusive than was strictly necessary. I'll definitely get my own copy after my dad's is GNER-èd back to Lincolnshire as it is certainly very funny as well as being full of well-presented argument (it might be a consequence of the subject matter but the reductio ad absurdum technique is employed rather frequently) and it's better to read this kind of argument in a book by itself rather than as a series of unfortunately snide-sounding (even to another atheist) asides in The Ancestor's Tale, placed there ostensibly as warnings to proponents of Intelligent Design/Creationism not to misquote the particular passage or fact to which the note refers.

I was a little disappointed that no-one referred to Dawkins as "Mr Colluphid" when asking him questions at the end though...

Following that and a pleasant (proper speed) walk with wingpig Sr. from the bookfest to Ocean Terminal we met up with Nicky and mother and went to Fuerzabruta. I was a little wary (partly given the cost, partly given the stupid token system in operation in the foyer/bar thing and the lack of free tapwater available at the bar) but it was probably worth the money and certainly worth seeing. It put me in mind a little of the stuff DV8 Physical Theatre have done in the past... a combination of energetic performances and inventive sets and the like. Permission to peform non-flash photography (manual exposure and focus a-go-go) is an added bonus although the occasional unexpected jets of airborne water droplets had me scrambling for cover a couple of times. It did seem at risk of degenerating into a rave a couple of times although the music was mostly quite reasonably and mostly (except for the bass) within a threshold the ears can withstand without injury.

Discussions are currently ongoing for tomorrow's activities... nothing is currently booked for tomorrow so it might be the time to pop back to the History of Surgery exhibition, pop to the exhibitions at the galleries or pop out for a meal somewhere if a preferred restaurant still has space.

Of course, getting four people to agree on something is proving a little difficult...