Talking Beautiful Stuff

22/07/2023

Meet Jane Thewlis: tree-hugger extraordinaire!

Jane Thewlis – All About Plants Posted on July 22, 2023 by Robin Detail of “Ice Keeper” At a family wedding I bump into long-lost cousin Jane. She’s great. She’s always been into plants and stuff. If I called her a tree-hugger, she would smile and say “Well, yes, I hug the occasional tre...

17/10/2022

Did you know that NASA's James Webb Space Telescope lets us see the beginning of the universe 13 billion years ago? 🌌🔭

I’ve been a space nerd since I was about seven, when my mum brought me to the planetarium in Stockholm. Mouth open, I looked up into this dome representing the night sky.

18/09/2022

Nantes: a town with side-stepping attitude!

Some research. Turns out that I got it all wrong. It is not about the dude and what he did for Nantes. It is about the an attitude. The dude is the sculptor himself, Philippe Ramette, who is best known for surreal, gravity defying photos including himself in a black suit.

22/08/2022

Extreme car mash…. art or just an ugly pile of crushed cars?

Rusty’s innate talent for mashing cars pummels the senses. The results are spectacular. I feel I have come across a scene of extraordinary violence but the screams of twisted automotive pain are stilled now. Only the curlew calls.

27/03/2022

Thanks so much for following “A Piece of Cake.” We hope the developing relationship between Buster and George has kept you amused and interested in the subject of artificial intelligence.

The remaining six chapters are now published on the Talking Beautiful Stuff website. You can go directly to chapter 10 or if you are starting the story, you can go to chapter 1. Here are the links:

https://talkingbeautifulstuff.com/2022/03/26/a-piece-of-cake-10/
https://talkingbeautifulstuff.com/2022/01/18/a-piece-of-cake-1/

26/03/2022

12/03/2022

Buster meets Doctor Patel and has a lesson in medical ethics.

“Doctor Patel! Great to see you!” said George. “Thanks for saving me a trip down to the surgery.”

08/03/2022

Is there a rule in publishing that says the ‘author’s note’ goes at the end of the story?

I thought I would put an author's note in the middle of this story that is, needless to say, fiction? The characters do not exist. There is nowhere in Norfolk called Bingham on Bure. However,

01/03/2022

George and Beth put Buster in front of a difficult dilemma.

The days got longer. Buds appeared on the apple tree. George asked Mark to put a bird table and feeder out on the lawn. It was positioned so both George and Buster had a clear view of it.

21/02/2022

George, Buster and Ted explore the complex world of nicknames. Ted tries to tell a joke.

A few days later, Ted Scales called in. “Good day to you, George!” “Very well thanks!” “Cup of tea?” “Yes, please, George.” “Digestive biscuits?” “Yes, please, George.”

14/02/2022

Can Buster feel emotions. Does he understand jokes?

The following morning, George was rewarded with a huge hug from Kirsty before she headed out to work. Buster’s video had been a big hit with her friends.

09/02/2022

Buster meets the vicar. Does God exist? George has a plan.

Read the previous chapter 😇 🙏 🐒 ☕ 🍪 🛌 🙁 🙂 🤔 Kirsty and Mark had invited a number of friends round to celebrate her fiftieth birthday. Beth McVicar phoned saying that she would call in

04/02/2022

Buster teaches George about artificial intelligence. George invents a new word.

Read the previous chapter 😊 🇬🇧 🍸 ✊ ⭐ 👏 🍾 😳 😭 🧠 💻 🌍 After a few days, George noticed that his family seemed less preoccupied by how he was doing. He knew they must

28/01/2022

George learns that Buster is a permanent fixture. Their first day goes well.

😴 😲 👑 🎵 💃 😃 🍰 😂 George woke, pushed himself upright and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. His feet sought out his slippers. With the habitual feeling of imminent boredom,

23/01/2022

George meets Buster for the first time. Buster's clever but doesn’t understand a joke.

Nearly a year before, George sat on the side of his bed and slid his feet into sheepskin slippers. He stood, pulled on his dressing gown and took a few steps towards the window. He

19/01/2022

It’s George’s funeral but Buster steals the show...

'A Piece of Cake' is a short novel in fourteen parts written by Robin Coupland. It tells the story an old man who befriends an artificial intelligence. The relationship brings happiness and hope.

On the day of George Fairburn’s funeral, news sites and social media were a-buzz with yet another public relations gaff committed by the UK’s Prime Minister. “PM does not believe in God!” and “God doesn’t

25/11/2021

Isaac has come across some beautiful stuff that has a really unusual story. Quite by chance, he came across some guys who, in the middle of the pandemic, decided to restore a dilapidated public garden in Versoix, just outside Geneva. Using video, archival research and drone footage, he has documented the heart-warming renovation of the Jardin de la Bécassine.

I’ve been documenting the restoration of Jardin de la Bécassine – a 200-year-old garden – in Versoix, Switzerland. This video is a personal reflection about ...

04/11/2021

Book launch and exhibition this weekend at Espace L for Julien Spiewak’s extraordinary photographic project "Corps du Style.”

Julien Spiewak is young, talented, inspired and modest. His photographic oeuvre has been exhibited at art fairs in Rome, Rio, Seoul, Amsterdam and, significantly, Paris. I meet him at the tenth anniversary of that where-things-happen gallery, Espace L.

10/10/2021

What do you feel when you look at Katrin Benninghoff’s horses?

Katrin Benninghoff’s life has been dominated by a proximity to horses. Here, she has created an exhibition that is born of her sensitivity to equine power, elegance, fragility and intelligence.

07/07/2021

COVID-19 and negative interest rates... The world of high finance slips even further from my comprehension.

I’ve had my two vaccinations. Case numbers here in Switzerland are dropping dramatically. This will be the last of these chronicles….. unless, for whatever reason, we go back into full lockdown.

10/05/2021

If you’re looking for that very special gift or the coolest of wall features for your office, take a look at the fabulous . You’ll find it at Gregoire’s bijouterie in Geneva’s Old Town.

08/05/2021

One year ago we were all about washing hands, buying packs of pasta and, inexplicably, hoarding toilet paper.

One surprising source of joy in "these times" is that we have a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major) busily preparing a nesting site in a dead tree right in front of our balcony.

11/04/2021

"Tears roll down my cheeks; I am here at last. A lifetime of reading, studying and dreaming about this place is fulfilled.”

I am here at last. A lifetime of reading, studying and dreaming about this place is fulfilled. This is a highpoint of my Western American road trip in the Spring of 2015.

13/03/2021

There is little doubt that this p*ndemic has on a global basis brought into stark relief the difference between the haves and the have-nots.

The doors crashed open. Fifty men charged in with AK47s at the ready. Immaculate uniforms and distinctive red berets signified an elite guard; they were checking the security of the place before the arrival of B-BBD.