Landschlacht, Switzerland, 31 August 2017 It is with great fascination I read of the events of the Russian Revolution and the role that Switzerland played in it. I have visited exhibits in Zürich`s Landesmuseum and have photographed the outside of the residence where Lenin lived during his time in that city. I have always found it curious… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Bloodthirsty Redhead
Tag: Switzerland
How to Train a Dragon: Canadians in China
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 23 March 2017 The further away a country is, the harder it is to know and understand that country. China is such a country. So it is with caution that I express my opinion of the events that have so far transpired with China and its relations with the rest of the world.… Continue reading How to Train a Dragon: Canadians in China
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
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
Riding the Rails
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 19 May 2016 The problem with travelling is that you begin to compare things. For example, the way things are done at home as compared to the way things are done in the other place(s). Of course, with most of us, home things are considered superior to foreign things as we know and… Continue reading Riding the Rails
The Backyard Tourist
“A desk is no place to think on a large scale”. (Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking) “An absolute new prospect is a great happiness, and I can still get this any afternoon. Two or three hours´walking will carry me to as strange a country as I expect ever to see. A single farmhouse which I had… Continue reading The Backyard Tourist
A scent of Indian pine
Landschlacht, Switzerland: 30 January 2016 As I age I am beginning to notice my mind functioning increasingly odd. I can be at home or work and be walking from one room to another and forget why I made that decision to change rooms. Yet I can be doing a normal, average activity and something or… Continue reading A scent of Indian pine
Canada Slim and The Poet´s Path
“Insidious forces are marshalled against the time, space and will to walk and against the version of humanity that act embodies. One force is the filling-up…”the time in between”, the time of walking to or from a place, of meandering, of running errands. That time has been deplored as a waste, reduced and its remainder… Continue reading Canada Slim and The Poet´s Path
Life among the Winti
Living in the shadows can be a mixed blessing. For example, my cousin is a world class athlete who has qualified for the Olympics, ran in the Commonwealth Games, and is presently raising money for children as he runs and rolls across Canada, so while I proudly boast of my connection to my cousin, I… Continue reading Life among the Winti
Canada Slim and the Briar Patch City
Welcome to “the Writing Room of Europe”, or as I like to call it “the waiting room of Europe”. St. Gallen is the city in which I work both as a ESL teacher and a Starbucks barista. It is a city where I still wait for my professional dreams to come true, yet seem to… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Briar Patch City