Category: Literature

Canada Slim and the Road to Reformation

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 11 November 2017 I have a man cold. I should have been at work yesterday, but, oh!, the agony, the suffering! My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? But with voice muted and a head full of unmentionables one shouldn´t mention, I find myself running between toilet and kitchen, bedroom and… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Road to Reformation

Canada Slim and the Street Walked Too Often

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 1 November 2017 Within a week, last week, spent in London we crossed Praed Street at least a dozen times, a street “not at any time one of London´s brighter thoroughfares”. (John Rhode, The Murders in Praed Street) Above: Praed Street, Paddington district, London “I´ve walked this street in far too many towns…. Same scraps… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Street Walked Too Often

Canada Slim and the Paddington Arrival

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 30 October 2017 Yesterday evening I returned home after spending an intense week in London with my wife, aka She Who Must Be Obeyed. It is important that my wife is mentioned, for it must be admitted that travelling as a pair is significantly different than travelling by oneself. And if one of… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Paddington Arrival

Canada Slim and the Distant Bench

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 21 October 2017 There are two distinct types of citizens in many countries: those who are native-born and those who are not. As formerly the former and of late the last two decades the latter, this change of status as a Canadian living in Canada and then as a Canadian living in Asia and… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Distant Bench

Canada Slim and the Undiscovered Country

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 20 October 2017 Captain Spock: Nature abhors a vacuum.  I intend for you to replace me. Lt. Valerus: I could never replace you.  I could only succeed you. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) Above: Poster for Star Trek VI It is a legitimate question. When we are gone, who replaces us? I know… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Undiscovered Country

Canada Slim and the Coming of the Fall

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 13 October 2017 There are some things that I don´t enjoy about working at Starbucks: shift work, impolite customers, how horribly messy the customers can be, how terrible things can become when things get insanely busy, especially with the arrival of autumn and the annual St. Gallen OLMA fair on now. No job is perfect. As… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Coming of the Fall

Canada Slim and the Inappropriate Statues

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 11 October 2017 Watching American politics these days is like being witness to a horrific traffic accident: You want to look away but somehow…. You just can´t. So much every day exploding or threatening to explode in the overly Excited States of America. And yet it is this constant turmoil of emotion and endless,… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Inappropriate Statues

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