Category: Literature

Canada Slim and the Bad Boss

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 19 November 2017 This particular post I write today will be different from others I have written since 2017 began. I do not wish to recount stories and histories or travelogs. There will few pictures in this post, because I want the reader to truly focus on what I have to say, rather than… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Bad Boss

Canada Slim and the Holiday Chronicles

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 16 November 2017 I hate November: shorter days (dawn still incomplete after 6 am, dusk already started at 1600), grey clouds ever threatening rain, blocking the sun by day and the stars by night. November with its month flower, the chrysanthemum, a symbol of adversity, grief and death. And I miss seeing the Lake under blue skies… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Holiday Chronicles

Canada Slim and the Outcast

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 13 November 2017 Maybe it´s the endless days of grey skies outside or being restless with being confined indoors by illness that has got me feeling morbid of late. Perhaps my ghastly mood has been affected by the topics I have written about recently: ghosts and corpses on the London Tube (Canada Slim Underground) and the… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Outcast

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