Dr. Sandage once spent an evening taking me through a recent compilation of data — some of it dating back to those old plates — on nearby galaxies.
He spent one evening taking a technology tour of a New Jersey plant, where he met with executives from Sony, Intel and Hewlett-Packard.
Thoughts racing, hand shaking, I would end the evening taking a Klonopin and then perhaps a Xanax and drinking a Scotch (and then another and another) to settle down.
That's what we were thinking about as we sat in assorted public places on an 80-degree evening taking turns wearing a pair of purple earmuffs and a ridiculous knit cap made to look like a kitten's head.
He remembers one evening taking a copy of Tasso's poetry to a bar, and a group of actors trying to translate it for him "til four or five in the morning".
In response, one friend (showing his stripes as half of the West End Whingers) imagined a perfect day of theatregoing: a matinee of a classic comedy starring several dames of the British Empire, and an evening taking in a big West End musical.
