Chapter 5
Despite the impressive décor, Lord British’s shindig is disappointingly pedestrian. The program does its best, but while the folded sheet of electronic paper charmingly describes every sculpture and point of interest as I draw near, it can’t overcome the mind-numbing banality with which rich people amuse themselves in public. In private is a complete different matter, as plenty of Internet videos attest. I’m adrift in an ocean of crap, and the bullshit icebergs floating through it never shut up. The theme of the soiree, the program informs me, is the merging of past and future.
Pedestals with replicas of technology throughout the ages are spaced around the perimeter of the wide pavilion, each backlit in a display case and standing in its own personal spotlight. The apex of the
