The conversation is dead long live the conversation.

A conversation is communication between two or more people either in person, over a telephone or via the Web. It is a social skill that is not difficult for most individuals but what happens if you have nothing to say or communicate.

Conversations are in many respects the ideal form of communication, since they allow people with different views on a topic to learn from each other. It is the ideal way to sell a product or service.

A speech, on the other hand, is an oral or web presentation by one person directed at a group or a prospective audience.

For a successful conversation, the partners must achieve a workable balance of contributions or one party must learn something. A successful conversation includes mutually interesting connections between the speakers or things that the speakers know. For this to happen, those engaging in conversation must find a topic on which they both can relate to in some sense. This is a fundamental strategy in the art of selling. Those engaging in conversation naturally tend to relate the other speaker’s statements to themselves (I really must buy this product). They may insert aspects of their lives into their replies, to relate to the other person’s opinions or points of conversation. Conversation leads to sales and conversions of clicks into profit. Try it sometime.

Bright: I would have wanted to work, but deep down I’m enormously lazy. I like living, breathing, better than working. I don’t think that the work I’ve done can have any social importance whatsoever in the future. Therefore if you wish, my art would be that of living: each second, each breath is a work which is inscribed nowhere, which is neither visual nor cerebral. It is a sort of constant futility.

This is futility in audio form.

Brighton Pavilion
Originally uploaded by This Window

The Prince of Wales, who later became King George IV, first visited Brighton in 1783. The seaside town had become fashionable through the residence of George’s uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, whose tastes for lavish cuisine, gaming and the theater the young prince shared. Enough of the history lesson – I thought the borders in the little park were inspiring. These flower beds were completely randomly planted and contained a mixture of wild and cultivated plants. The pastel colors were subtle but incredibly vibrant – maybe I will have a go at recreating it on a smaller scale?

The interior of the Pavilion is extremely over the top, verging on bad taste, with reds, gold and greens on the walls splashed with intertwining snakes and dragons – reminded me of a very bad 1970’s swirly carpet (puke). The lavish dinning room with its cut glass and silver encrusted, huge dinning table had a suspended chandelier above it which had an enormous dragon as a ceiling boss, having a combined weight of about 1 ton.

The kitchen was again on the grand scale. This had been converted during the First World War into an operating theatre where injured Indian troops were care for and had been a place where dozens of front line troops had there limbs amputated. (Worth seeing the little exhibition space dedicated to the Asian Colonial troops upstairs in the Pavilion.)

“I can’t believe I am 46 and I’ve never been to Brighton before. How did I miss this iconic rite of passage? Nary a bank holiday awayday or a dirty weekend in all my days. Well, I’m making up for it now – and in the best possible style – as writer in residence at the Hotel du Vin in Ship Street. It’s an awesome Gothic revival meets mock Tudor building done out with the usual Hdv flair and panache, a stunning two-floor bar and a buzzy bistro – and adjoining it is the unique Pub du Vin, encompassing tradition with a twist (pork scratchings and pickled onions available at the bar). I loved the pewter bar and the trompe l’oieul: peeling wallpaper shwoing exposed brick.“