Morning espresso. The essential start to my day. 

It must be well over a decade since I wrote a letter by hand, but there was a certain simple pleasure to be had from using a fountain pen and proper writing paper to say thank you to my recent research interviewees. Now it’s time to resuscitate the traditional calling card I think: http://www.debretts.com/british-etiquette/communication/written-etiquette/cards/visiting-cards/traditional-visiting-cards

Sometimes there’s pleasure in the small details of things. These are from the two French paintings posted earlier, just submitted for painting competitions. Paintings are notoriously difficult to photograph, and I have renewed respect for the professional photographs we used to use from my early days as an art dealer in Edinburgh’s Dundas Street, who produced beautiful large format transparencies. A dying art, I should imagine.