EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEECHES were a hallmark of tales in the Odyssey, where feasts in great banquet halls of the fifth century BC had long soliloquies to charm the guests. In our age of texting, instant messaging and speed-dating I find it so refreshing that the art for is alive and well at big Catalan dinners. Last night 20 dinner guest at a banquet had their turn to say something, in full sentences, in uninterrupted paragraphs, with a beginning,a middle and an end. Charming View in LinkedIn