Author Archives: Lorne Anderson

Life Goes On

  While some days it seems like the world is falling apart, it really isn’t. “Social distancing” has become the norm in Sulzburg. I don’t know if businesses here are closed – there are so few, and the ones I know are “essential” services, such as the grocery store, bakery and pharmacy. Those are still […]

What Pandemic Rights?

What is the responsibility of the state to keep its citizens healthy? Who decides what is appropriate? Where I live you are no longer allowed to walk along the streets, unless you are going to the doctor or the grocery store.  Police or other officials can stop you and ask where you are going. There […]

A Unique Event

Today, the third Sunday before Easter is Weckensonntag in Sulzburg. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all events have been cancelled.  Which is a real shame, since this festival only happens once a year and only one place in the world. Now we have to wait until next year. And I missed it in 2019 because […]

Green Crosses

I noticed them on the drive home from the airport in January. Green crosses by the roadside. Those weren’t there when we left. In Canada roadside crosses usually mean there has been a fatal accident at that spot. They aren’t green though. I wondered what the significance was of these new German crosses. My first […]

Scammers At Work

In some ways I’m surprised it took so long. After all, the new coronavirus, COVID-19, was first identified at the end of December. You’ve probably seen the reports of people attempting to profit from the pandemic, selling hand sanitizer or toilet paper at inflated prices to a panicked public. In a free market economy I […]

Opening Pandora’s Box

Germans probably don’t realize it, but Pandora’s Box just opened. The COVID-19 pandemic is about to bring permanent, unintended, social change. Am I the only one who sees this? You know the myth, or at least you should, so I won’t repeat it. Once Pandora opened that box she couldn’t get the lid back on […]

Sign of The Times

  I guess rigs like this are more common than not these days, distancing passengers from the  person driving their bus. On Sunday, when I first saw this, I thought maybe the driver was taking his own precautions in not allowing people to board by the front door and making sure they couldn’t get near […]

A Conspiracy Of Bones

There’s never a beach around when you need one. Which means I’m not sure how I feel about A Conspiracy Of Bones, the new novel from Kathy Reichs, published today. I spend two weeks each summer on vacation in Maine, sitting on the beach all day and devouring mysteries and thrillers from the local library. […]

Take A Deep Breath….

I was going to post something about COVID-19 today. It is the hot topic after all. However, if you are like me you are probably getting sick of hearing about coronavirus. Tell me something new, don’t repeat the same information. But there is nothing new. The virus will spread. Most people will get it. The […]

Voice of Tolerance

Sometimes there are little surprises. Ties to history you didn’t realize were there. I was walking along the main street of my wife’s ancestral home town, Lippstadt, in northern Germany. It was there I cam across this bust. I recognized the name, Martin Niemöller. I hadn’t realized he was from Lippstadt. Niemöller was a pastor […]