Landschlacht, Switzerland, 18 May 2017 In my last blogpost, Canada Slim and the Final Problem, I told of my visit to the Reichenbach Falls where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930) ended the life of his detective hero. Sherlock Holmes is dead. So suggests the plaque marking the spot where Holmes and Professor Moriarty wrestled… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Bimetallic Question
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A Revolution of One: Seize the Day
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 19 March 2017 Everyone has their own ideas about what is wrong with the world. We will argue amongst ourselves about which are the most important issues. But I think we all agree that things could be a lot better than they are. Something really needs to be done. We are all fired… Continue reading A Revolution of One: Seize the Day
Bleeding Beautiful
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 28 February 2017 There are friends and stories that remain in the back of your mind that sometimes require some dramatic moment to have their memory come rushing to your forethoughts. Such is the case of my Indian friend Sumit, originally of Orissa Province, India, and now Canadian resident of Ontario. I have known… Continue reading Bleeding Beautiful
Snowbirds
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 22 February 2017 In pauper’s fields the daisies grow There are no crosses, sadly, no To mark the place beneath the sky There is no singing from up high Scarce heard beneath the ground below These pauper’s fields. We are the dead, some time ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow Loved… Continue reading Snowbirds
The sons of Karbala
St. Gallen, Switzerland, 9 January 2017 “Turkey seems to be falling to pieces, the fall will be a great misfortune. It is very important that England and Russia should come to a perfectly good understanding… and that neither should take any decisive step of which the other is not apprized.” “We have a sick man on… Continue reading The sons of Karbala
The Underestimated: The Bold and the Reckless
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 7 January 2017 It is normal to underestimate the Swiss. In fact other nations generally don´t see and rarely think about the Swiss. And the Swiss themselves don´t help themselves in this regard. To the outside world, the French-speaking Swiss to the west of the country seem little different from the French of… Continue reading The Underestimated: The Bold and the Reckless
One foot down
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 6 January 2017 “An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing For every tatter in its mortal dress.” (William Butler Yeats. “Sailing to Byzantium”, The Tower) Above: William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939) Yesterday, working at Starbucks… Continue reading One foot down
The fashionable dead
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 3 January 2017 The scene outside my window seems worlds apart and away for the world I am about to describe…for the streets here in this wee Swiss hamlet by the Lake of Constance are covered in snow both magical and mysterious. You could spend days explaining to me the science behind snowfall… Continue reading The fashionable dead
Take me back to Constantinople
Romanshorn, Switzerland, 2 January 2017 Slow start to the day and to the week finds us, the wife and I, having a late breakfast, then walking along the shores of the Lake of Constance. Here at least it has been a green Christmas season. In fact, yesterday´s Sonntag Zeitung remarks that Switzerland had never seen a… Continue reading Take me back to Constantinople
Fireworks in the fog
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, 1 January 2017 Fireworks in the fog. As we stood on Schlossberg overlooking the city this morning many things sprang to mind. Another year survived. Considering the grimness of 2016, to be still standing at its end feels like an accomplishment in itself.… The best barometer of a person’s alcohol consumption… Continue reading Fireworks in the fog