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The Path of Progress
Once upon a time, more than 30 years ago, I worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). No, I was not a policeman; I was a civilian employee, a Micrographic Equipment Operator. I’m not surprised you have never heard of such a thing. It is a trade that has been rendered obsolete by changes […]
Thanksgiving Day
Following a Canadian tradition that goes back to English explorer Martin Frobisher in 1578, Canadians today are celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday. The American holiday of the same name, held in late November, gets all the attention now, especially for the shopping orgy that accompanies it; but consumerism wasn’t on Frobisher’s mind when he and his […]
Railway Remembrances
I am old enough to remember the big coal-fired train engines. They were just being phased out in favour of diesel when I was a young boy. Every boy my age wanted to grow up to be an engineer (or a policeman or a fireman). I remember standing at the railway crossings down the street […]
Parliamentary Palace I – Massive Excess in Bucharest
It’s huge. No, actually it is gigantic. Or colossal – you choose the adjective. The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania, is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s second largest office building, after the Pentagon in Washington, and also as the heaviest building. More than 700,000 tonnes of steel […]
The World is Watching
It seems like everyone has an opinion on the September 18 independence referendum to be held in Scotland, except me. I probably should have paid more attention to the upcoming vote, but really, why should I care? My family left Scotland in 1843; I may have some distant cousins still living there now, but I […]
Something Rotten in Parliament
One of the fun things about a vacation, for me anyway, is traveling to locations that can bring history alive in a new way, places like Dunwich, a village in Suffolk County on England’s North Sea Coast. I had never heard of the town before our English hosts, Peter and Charlotte, suggested we drive there, […]
Keeping Score in the War That Never Ends
A century later, it haunts them still. The last Canadian veteran of the First World War died in 2010, and I would imagine that is pretty much the case in most countries. The generation that fought and survived the bloody battles in France and Belgium from 1914-18 has now passed into the history books. But […]
Franz Liszt Played Here
In downtown Bucharest it seems there is a plaque on every second building, indicating some semi-interesting historical information to be shared in Romanian, English and French. Unable to resist the printed word in any form, I looked at the plaque on Capsa House, and discovered that its claim to fame was a recital given there […]
Is This a Cultural Difference?
I am a big believer in tradition. There is something comforting about doing something the same way our ancestors did. It gives us a sense of continuity, of contact with past generations. I am not, however, a Luddite (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/luddite). I do not fear new technology and have frequently been an early adopter of technological innovations, […]
How to see Europe in Two Hours
I will admit I went under protest. I couldn’t see the point of spending good money to see scale models of European landmarks. But my wife was insistent, and because we were also going to the Atomium, which is right next door in suburban Brussels, we got a couple of Euros off the admission price […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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