Had I know we could have grabbed a coffee in 2009! 😅 As for more HK pics, there are some on Getty and Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/gp/ihad/474xt0mhEe) Never been to Basel. Maybe one day!
I’ve been at Zuerich airport in August and the first reaction of my son was how awesome and clean everything was, including the air (compared to CDG). Now he wants to have his next vacation in Switzerland so I showed him the prices ... he was not thrilled 🤣
You know, I'd love for there to be an app where, upon meeting someone who you then form a bond with, you could say "hey, have we ever been really really close somewhere in our collective past?"
I would have thought with Google Timeline something like this could be possible if the data could be tapped into.
"And for all the Hongkongers, everywhere." made me think of "Dear Future Children" A strong documentary. One segment is on HK, interviews with an activist in exile. They were filming in HK during the protests 2019/20. Not the HK I remember from my 2009 visit. Sadly.
Looking forward to reading more and seeing more images from this 2010 journey, though!
Wonderful connection. Would love to see more photos from your trip as well.
Yeah HK changed a ton in the time I was there (2008-16) then when I visited again a couple times after. I’m interested in those harbingers of change here as well as some of the continued perseverance of “HK culture” and its growth despite it all. It’s a city of constant reinvention and has been even before the handover and protests (and National Security Law). I’m also interested in the “spectator” in these changes.
Basel in contrast doesn’t change much at all! Pros and cons.
Reading the (wonderful ) extract it makes me think again how, in writing fiction, sensory awareness is really important. I don't write fiction but I noticed in your book The White Night how very densely layered it was, many ideas creating a super-rich reading experience. In this extract the character "notices" so much about the tram journey and it seems to me that that is a major item in the writer's tool kit: the ability to notice, to absorb, to experience, to feel. Yoga practitioners try to become more minutely aware of their bodies so it is appropriate to link the two activities as you do. I wrote a piece about seeing the artist David Hockney at his gallery in Saltaire, and when I first set eyes on him he was right up close to one of his paintings, just looking. He spends a long time just looking at his subject. Just looking. I suppose if you spend enough time in this preparatory state some interesting transformations might take place in your mental processes, which in turn makes you create something very fresh and new. Thank you, Kate.
I adore David Hockney! Thats amazing you got to watch him at work. You feel this in his paintings when he depicts himself as well - I’m thinking of a digital painting he displayed at Art Base this year. I took a photo and can share with you.
Thanks for the kind words! Do you mean the extract on the table of contents I assume? That was a separate sketch at one point. Well a lot of the story was developed in that way. I’m thinking of doing a podcast or two connected to the work in that novel in the new year sometime.
Had I know we could have grabbed a coffee in 2009! 😅 As for more HK pics, there are some on Getty and Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/gp/ihad/474xt0mhEe) Never been to Basel. Maybe one day!
Close encounters! And when you come to Basel, we surely can ☕️
I’ve been at Zuerich airport in August and the first reaction of my son was how awesome and clean everything was, including the air (compared to CDG). Now he wants to have his next vacation in Switzerland so I showed him the prices ... he was not thrilled 🤣
Haha yes I’ve just been to France for the groceries today 😂
A mad mad world! It would work the same way in reverse. Everything can be priced in groceries and nuts, prices of nuts are just nuts...
You know, I'd love for there to be an app where, upon meeting someone who you then form a bond with, you could say "hey, have we ever been really really close somewhere in our collective past?"
I would have thought with Google Timeline something like this could be possible if the data could be tapped into.
"And for all the Hongkongers, everywhere." made me think of "Dear Future Children" A strong documentary. One segment is on HK, interviews with an activist in exile. They were filming in HK during the protests 2019/20. Not the HK I remember from my 2009 visit. Sadly.
Looking forward to reading more and seeing more images from this 2010 journey, though!
Wonderful connection. Would love to see more photos from your trip as well.
Yeah HK changed a ton in the time I was there (2008-16) then when I visited again a couple times after. I’m interested in those harbingers of change here as well as some of the continued perseverance of “HK culture” and its growth despite it all. It’s a city of constant reinvention and has been even before the handover and protests (and National Security Law). I’m also interested in the “spectator” in these changes.
Basel in contrast doesn’t change much at all! Pros and cons.
I’m getting carried away :)
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Reading the (wonderful ) extract it makes me think again how, in writing fiction, sensory awareness is really important. I don't write fiction but I noticed in your book The White Night how very densely layered it was, many ideas creating a super-rich reading experience. In this extract the character "notices" so much about the tram journey and it seems to me that that is a major item in the writer's tool kit: the ability to notice, to absorb, to experience, to feel. Yoga practitioners try to become more minutely aware of their bodies so it is appropriate to link the two activities as you do. I wrote a piece about seeing the artist David Hockney at his gallery in Saltaire, and when I first set eyes on him he was right up close to one of his paintings, just looking. He spends a long time just looking at his subject. Just looking. I suppose if you spend enough time in this preparatory state some interesting transformations might take place in your mental processes, which in turn makes you create something very fresh and new. Thank you, Kate.
I adore David Hockney! Thats amazing you got to watch him at work. You feel this in his paintings when he depicts himself as well - I’m thinking of a digital painting he displayed at Art Base this year. I took a photo and can share with you.
Thanks for the kind words! Do you mean the extract on the table of contents I assume? That was a separate sketch at one point. Well a lot of the story was developed in that way. I’m thinking of doing a podcast or two connected to the work in that novel in the new year sometime.
Yes that's right, it was in the table of contents.
Hockney wasn't working, he was visiting his Normandy exhibition and looking at one of the paintings just like the rest of us. I'll include the like to the article. I was just stunned 😮 https://open.substack.com/pub/juliadpickering/p/teddy-talk-and-a-brush-with-genius?r=1hm9gb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
He is one of my all-time favourites too. 😊
Wow, incredible.
That extract 🤗
"for hours that became non-hours" ... beautiful words, Kate. I'm looking forward to more, but especially so with this breakdown on the framing.
Also, the extract makes me even more certain you're going to (I hope!) enjoy Solenoid.
I'm excited - I pick it up from my in-laws in a week 🤗
And thanks so much. Yes, his work is incredible. You also just gave me an idea for a podcast I'm recording today. 💡
💡⚡😃