I have a confession to make. I never watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I’m the wrong age. By the time the program started, I was no longer interested in children’s shows. My children watched it, I think, though not that often. I was careful about their media consumption, but that show I didn’t need to watch […]
“It’s about my rock, isn’t it?” I asked. The security officer laughed. I knew it was the rock because it wasn’t the first flight of the day. Or the first time I had been asked to open my carry-on. In Frankfurt were was a small cluster of people gathered around the screen looking at the […]
Nineteenth century American showman P.T. Barnum is usually credited as saying “there’s a sucker born every minute.” Certainly there’s a new one in India. Barnum didn’t actually say the words attributed to him, but he was not averse to a bit of fakery in his exhibits. He knew people were happy to buy illusion, even […]
For the first time in my life, there is no Grey Cup game. Canada’s national football championship, scheduled for today, has been canceled. The Canadian Football League is a gate-driven enterprise. Unlike the league to the south, television revenues are not enough to allow the teams to break even, or even operate at a small […]
It seemed like such a simple thing. How could it have gone so wrong? And why isn’t the system better? We needed to make changes to our bank account, which necessitated a trip the the branch around the corner. I normally do my banking online. The teller asked for our ATM cards. They do that […]
Back in 2016 I wrote about the way the American shopping frenzy know as Black Friday had crossed the border into Canada. I didn’t see it as a good thing. For Black Friday to become part of the Canadian shopping experience I can understand – the two countries are so close. But why has it […]
Time to smile a little today. I don’t need any reason other than that it is Thursday, do you? A few years back I suggested that anyone who wanted to get in on the ground floor of an expanding business should consider a career in tattoo removal. I stand by that assessment. This one should […]
Due to some computer issues Monday I find myself being a day behind this week, which is why you are getting Tuesday’s post on a Wednesday. Tuesday was Pete Best’s 79th birthday. You may never have heard of him, but you might have heard music from his band. They were called The Beatles. I wrote […]
I must have walked by this pile of old wood in the vineyard on the edge of Sulzburg a dozen times in the past two weeks, never giving it a second thought. Until the last time. I should have wondered why the pile was there when I first saw it, but my mind tends to […]
One of the delights about visiting someplace new is learning bits of local history, things you don’t read in history books. I, for example, had never heard of Saint Arbogast. Had you? Walking through Dottingen one afternoon, I visited St. Arbogast’s Chapel on the spur of the moment. I’d seen the tower from a distance […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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