Landschlacht, Switzerland, 23 September 2017 It has been a hard year for my heart in my dual roles of teacher and barista. In the former role, I have been disappointed that my preferred profession of choice, teaching, has sadly not been as busy lately as I might have hoped. In the latter, I have been saddened by the… Continue reading Canada Slim and Our Lady of St. Petersburg
Category: History
Canada Slim and the Road into the Open
Cadenabbia di Griante, Italia, Monday 7 September 1840 “We leave Cadenabbia in a day or two. I go unwillingly. Above: Mary Shelley (1797 – 1851) The calm weather invites my stay, by dispelling my fears. The heat is great in the middle of the day and I read a great deal to beguile the time….… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Road into the Open
Canada Slim and the Apostle of Violence
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 14 September 2017 “History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.” (Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) Above: Edward Gibbon (1737 – 1794) “I believe that are monsters born in the world to human parents. Some you can see. And… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Apostle of Violence
Canada Slim and the Evil Road
9 September 2017, Landschlacht, Switzerland I am determined to not write myself into too predictable a rut. There have been a number of themes running through the posts of this blog since I started it back on 18 May 2015. I have written of many things: my travels in Switzerland and abroad, topics currently relevant at the time… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Evil Road
Canada Slim and the Lure of Italian Journeys
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 4 September 2017 It´s not that Switzerland isn´t inspirational. It is. It has inspired Anita Brookner’s Hotel du Lac and Albert Cohen’s Her Lover. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein here and Lord Byron The Prisoner of Chillon. From Julius Caesar to Jean Jacques Rousseau, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and John Le Carré, Hermann Hesse and Patricia Highsmith… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Lure of Italian Journeys
Canada Slim and the Great Explorer
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 24 August 2017 Let me begin with an apology or two. Much time has gone by since I started this blog and I feel like a negligent parent towards this activity and the few folks who read this blog. Life has been busy and it has been complicated, but let´s try to recapture the muse… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Great Explorer
Canada Slim and the Forgotten
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 30 May 2017 Marriage ain’t easy. “My successful marriage is built on mistakes. It may be founded on love, trust and a shared sense of purpose, but it runs on cowardice, impatience, ill-advised remarks and low cunning. But also: apologies, belated expressions of gratitude and frequent appeals for calm. Every day is a… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Forgotten
Canada Slim and the Greatest Villain
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 26 May 2017 I read the news and I feel sometimes that all the media seems to report is bad news – news that angers or saddens me. To be fair, it’s not the media’s fault completely… Bad things happen in the world. It is a terrible thing to admit, but nothing encourages us to… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Greatest Villain
Canada Slim and the Great Expedition
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 25 May 2017 We live in an age where we take for granted many things and we only seem to question things when they don’t happen as we think they should. We live in an age where we casually accept what is, without questioning how it came to be. The older I get,… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Great Expedition
Canada Slim and the Final Problem
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 17 May 2017 They almost have lives and yet we cannot forget them, for they haunt us in the worlds of literature, film, TV, advertising and video games. Ours is a world inhabited by Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones, Wonder Woman and Darth Vader, Santa Claus and Cinderella, James Bond and Harry Potter. They… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Final Problem