Category: Uncategorized

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

The Epiphany of Canada Slim

(or The Ruins of Anwil and the Holy Fountain) (or Moos and I love ewes) Landschlacht, 6 January 2016: Ahhh, Switzerland! A land divided in every way, including by language and religion. Today, a case in point: Epiphany or Orthodox Xmas or Little Xmas. Some Cantons are on holiday, others not. The Catholic cantons sleep… Continue reading The Epiphany of Canada Slim