Looking back, I sometimes feel Robert would either be incrediby angry or incredibly amused at some of the things that have happened since his death. He was quite tolerant but in other ways he was also irritated by people, especially if they took advantage of him. I remember quite a few incidents where he 'had it out' with people. It used to make me laugh because he always gave the impression that he was always in control but there is no mistaking that some people just annoyed him.
One thing that Robert always had was immaculate taste. He chose quality things in his life. His paintings were of a beautiful mysteriious quality and he always chose objects and belongings that had something unusal. I remember him showing me the light switches he had chosen for the library he was setting up of his books on the Barbican. They were the most beautiful light switches, big, round and made of brass. Everything had to be 'exquiitivaly carved' he was aiming to match the Bodlean or Trinity in Dublin, that was Robert's dream library.
But what I loved most of all was a book that Robert wrote for me when I was six years old.
It was a book about moles and an adventure that a little girl has with moles, one day while walking in the countryside. I remember Robert sitting me on his knee when I was a child and him reading this book to me. It was very beautiful and magical, a large book of about thirteen pages made from good quality paper and a gold cover made from cardboard, with a picture of a mole on the front cover.I still have it to this day and sometimes read it to my own children.
