We are an island people and I have always had a passion for islands. I plan to be a modern Robinson Crusoe beached up on the island of the Plinth. Books have also occupied a significant part of my life and 'Robinson Crusoe', written by Daniel Defoe almost 300 years ago, has further relevance as it is considered to be the very first English Novel. It is also the first to explore human psychology. So, to paraphrase Antony Gormley - Robinson Crusoe is to the Novel what the Nude is to Art.
Shakespeare most aptly describes my time on the Plinth: '... a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more ...' (Macbeth). I shall be doing my share of strutting and fretting.
My daughter Diane Kavanagh is coming along to give me moral and psychological support.
During my hour, apart from exploring my island and enjoying the view, I plan to write a letter to my great granddaughter 'Summer Buxbaum' which I will place in a bottle and cast off into the ocean of time for her to open in 20 years, when she is 21.
