And when the banter finally started, it was just as one expected, one had hoped: erudite and cultured, mischievous and glancing, sweeping back through art, philosophy, history while always staying rooted in the issues of the day.
Earlier this month, the FDA announced what looked at first glance like sweeping new guidelines on the use of antibiotics in livestock.
But it's well worth thinking about ordering any roomy cupboard for the same purpose – just make sure everything is easy to hand and view, so one sweeping glance triggers a tsunami of inspiration.
AT first glance, the sweeping plateau of freshly churned soil resembles an instant community being carved into a Californian hillside.
Though sweeping at first glance, the reshuffle signals a continuation of present policies – underlining the administration's determination to bring the decade-long war in Afghanistan to a successful conclusion, and to press on with the reforms at the Pentagon initiated by Mr Gates.
It's a big, sweeping thesis – and at first glance, it may seem persuasive.
At first glance it looks like the artist uses sweeping brushstrokes to produce the mesmerizing swirls, but Hart lets vibrations do that work.
On the other side of the concrete wall, I glanced up to see an old man – the whistler – sweeping his front stoop, talking quietly to his dog.
Facing one other across a pair of concert grand pianos, their uncanny, intuitive understanding meant hardly a glance needed to be exchanged as the improvisation swept its way through raging, bass-heavy torrents of sweeping sound to gentle, lyrical passages.
