Eskisehir, Switzerland, Sunday 19 September 2021 As the dates below will show, this blog (The Chronicles of Canada Slim) (one of two) has suffered from neglect. I offer only one explanation: I have been….distracted. The purpose of The Chronicles of Canada Slim is to capture in writing my adventures prior to the calendar year. Generally,… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Last Battle
Tag: Switzerland
Canada Slim and the Secret Beauty
Landschlacht, Switzerland, Saturday 2 May 2020 (Lockdown Day #47) Easter, 1916 is a poem by W. B. Yeats describing the poet’s torn emotions regarding the events of the Easter Rising staged in Ireland against British rule on Easter Monday 24 April 1916. The uprising was unsuccessful and most of the Irish republican leaders involved… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Secret Beauty
Canada Slim and the Voices without Echo
Landschlacht, Switzerland, Monday 2 June 2019 Thursday was Ascension Day, a holiday commemorated in both Thurgau Canton (where my wife works) and in St. Gallen Canton (where I work), and, to our mutual surprise, we found ourselves both free from the obligations of employment simultaneously. A miracle almost as spectacular as someone rising to Heaven… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Voices without Echo
Canada Slim and the Chocolate Factory of Unhappiness
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 30 January 2019 This is not India, but nonetheless there are a few sacred cows in Switzerland one would be wise to not offend. First, one should never question Switzerland’s superiority…. In anything. Just as the laws of physics decree that the bumblebee cannot possibly fly, so the laws of economics similarly decree… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Chocolate Factory of Unhappiness
Canada Slim and the Family of Mann
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 12 August 2018 Perhaps I should have been recovering from yesterday’s Street Parade in Zürich, at present the most attended techno-parade in the world. Officially it is a demonstration for freedom, love and tolerance attended by up to one million people. In reality it has all the character of a popular festival, despite… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Family of Mann
Canada Slim and the Borders
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 11 November 2017 As one travels around the world a person discovers that there are arbitrary lines drawn across landscapes and charts and maps that define what is Here and what is to be considered There, and there are arbitrary lines drawn between classes and positions in our everyday societies. Mankind has done… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Borders
Canada Slim and Our Lady of St. Petersburg
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 23 September 2017 It has been a hard year for my heart in my dual roles of teacher and barista. In the former role, I have been disappointed that my preferred profession of choice, teaching, has sadly not been as busy lately as I might have hoped. In the latter, I have been saddened by the… Continue reading Canada Slim and Our Lady of St. Petersburg
Canada Slim and the Forces of Darkness
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 10 September 2017 Sometimes you have to borrow from the best, to raise yourself up from the shoulders of the great. Being the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, with much focus paid on this event and Swiss connections to it, I have found too much too interesting to ignore. What follows is a… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Forces of Darkness
Canada Slim and the Evil Road
9 September 2017, Landschlacht, Switzerland I am determined to not write myself into too predictable a rut. There have been a number of themes running through the posts of this blog since I started it back on 18 May 2015. I have written of many things: my travels in Switzerland and abroad, topics currently relevant at the time… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Evil Road
Canada Slim and the Lure of Italian Journeys
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 4 September 2017 It´s not that Switzerland isn´t inspirational. It is. It has inspired Anita Brookner’s Hotel du Lac and Albert Cohen’s Her Lover. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein here and Lord Byron The Prisoner of Chillon. From Julius Caesar to Jean Jacques Rousseau, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and John Le Carré, Hermann Hesse and Patricia Highsmith… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Lure of Italian Journeys