I know I should be grateful. Yesterday, my wife Ute organised the purchase of my first laptop and my first tablet. I now will have the capacity of leaving home and be interconnected with the world even more than I was in the past with my non-apps, not very smart mobile phones. Then why don`t… Continue reading Running against the wind
Unloved in Jerusalem
There is a phrase that beguiles me with its unknown source that “a prophet is rarely respected in his own Jerusalem.” This phrase comes to mind when I consider the Rhine towns of Feuerthalen, across from Schaffhausen, and Rheinau, downriver 181 km / 113 miles if discussing walking distance. Feuerthalen, population 3,500, is Schaffhausen’s unremarkable… Continue reading Unloved in Jerusalem
The Grand Guestbook
They say we are judged by the company we keep. Let’s look at some of the people who have kept company with the Rhine Falls: It never ceases to amaze me how often in history great changes begin with only one individual. Before 1548, the Rhine Falls were relatively unknown. There was (and still is)… Continue reading The Grand Guestbook
The secret sites above the Falls
The biggest problem with being a tourist in Switzerland is the distinct feeling that the Swiss don’t want you to visit and certainly don’t want you to learn anything about the country. Switzerland certainly does not go out of its way to market itself aggressively in comparison with countries like the US or France. The… Continue reading The secret sites above the Falls
Wolves in sheep packaging
“No one could tell me, but I learned something else about Schaffhausen, a tiny curiosity of history. The town was bombed by American aircraft in 1944. (See Oops! Did we do that?) The Americans insisted that it was a mistake – a bombing force had lost its way and, thinking it was still over Germany… Continue reading Wolves in sheep packaging
Smells like team spirit
I know…I know.. Working at a place like Starbucks, it is normal for there to be a lot of personnel change. People move away for personal reasons. People get transferred. People leave for better opportunities elsewhere. But there is something uniquely special about working in an environment like a restaurant or a cafe as opposed… Continue reading Smells like team spirit
Problems with Paul
Paul Edward Theroux (born 10 April 1941) is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known works are The Great Railway Bazaar and The Mosquito Coast. I have never read his novels as travel writing has always held a greater fascination for me, but I have read and own most that he has written… Continue reading Problems with Paul
Fight or flight?
I am an individual who loves and cherishes his moments of solitude and isolation where I immerse myself in knowledge gleaned from books and the Internet and where I attempt to reproduce in my own way equally beneficial knowledge for others, yet it is my encounters with others that are the basis of my true… Continue reading Fight or flight?
The company that couldn’t
Neuhausen am Rheinfall is a municipality in the Canton of Schaffhausen just south of the cantonal capital, Schaffhausen. It has a population of nearly 11,000 people. Despite its location beside the Rhine Falls, Neuhausen is primarily an industrial city. “We came along a filthy street between forges and mills right through to the Falls. What… Continue reading The company that couldn’t
The cards we’re dealt
The Swiss, especially the German-speaking Swiss, always have to be different. Consider playing cards. The Swiss German speaking part of Switzerland has its own deck of playing cards. They are mostly used for Jass, the “national card game” of Switzerland. The deck is related to the various German playing cards. Within Switzerland, these decks are… Continue reading The cards we’re dealt