Category: Travel

The last ride of Vittorio Scarmaglia

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 20 August 2016 As I sit at my desk, up and about far too early on a Saturday morning, I am trying to recapture the enthusiasm and energy by which I am known both as an ESL teacher and a part-time Starbucks barrista for working later today. I will never claim to be… Continue reading The last ride of Vittorio Scarmaglia

Canada Slim and the Genius of Glarus

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 12 August 2016 In my last blog post, Yesterday’s Children, I wrote of boarding a train to parts unknown in an attempt to restore my composure after attending a memorial service in Benken, Canton St. Gallen. The day then was much like today’s weather: chilly, dark, unpleasant… Glarus, Canton Glarus, 21 March 2016 Glarus, the… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Genius of Glarus

Hongwon style: Canada Slim in Korea

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 9 August 2016 Thirteen months of time remembered sixteen years later…prompted by a recent edition of The Economist and another “old” article found whilst searching for conversation ideas for my Friday classes: First, the articles: “Watching a new film on the big screen could soon be consigned to the dustbin of history. Sean Parker,… Continue reading Hongwon style: Canada Slim in Korea

Canada Slim behind bars 5b: Time served

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 22 July 2016 In the past five posts I spoke of prisons – how prisons inspire literature, prisons as tourist attractions, prisons as tourist accommodation, my work and life in a youth hostel/former jail, and the road that lead to me being imprisoned for a short time in America. In this sixth and… Continue reading Canada Slim behind bars 5b: Time served

Canada Slim behind bars 4: Me and D´Arcy McGee

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 7 July 2016 I have some bad habits. I am essentially a man who prefers leisure to work. As each and every person who has ever existed, exists or will ever exist is defined by how he/she decides to use the 24 hours each day provided us indiscriminately, so it can be said… Continue reading Canada Slim behind bars 4: Me and D´Arcy McGee

Canada Slim behind bars 3: Prisoners of choice

Landschlacht, Switzerland, 5 July 2016 Why do people travel? For each person there are personal, individual reasons for venturing outside our personal comfort zones into the Great Unknown. But essentially I think it is a quest to learn something new, something previously undiscovered, not yet experienced before. Travellers seek to challenge themselves by discovering who they themselves… Continue reading Canada Slim behind bars 3: Prisoners of choice

Canada Slim behind bars 1: Voyeurs of tragedy

Dorchester Prison, Dorset, England, Saturday 9 August 1856 A day of drizzle, a crowd of 4, 000 people of all ages gathered to watch a woman swing from a prison scaffold. Before the gallows, Martha was counselled by the Reverend Clementson, the prison chaplain, so she faced her death composed. Elizabeth Martha Brown had been… Continue reading Canada Slim behind bars 1: Voyeurs of tragedy

When the last Luddites walk away…

Nottingham, England, 1811 They move about in bands at night, masked and sworn to secrecy, smashing up the new machinery which is taking over the textile industry. Their leader is a mysterious man named Ned Ludd of Sherwood Forest, who has been likened to the legendary Robin Hood as a friend of the poor and… Continue reading When the last Luddites walk away…