“The men at the factory are old and cunning You don’t owe nothing, so boy get runnin’ It’s the best years of your life they want to steal” – The Clash, ‘Clampdown’ I consider myself to have been fortunate enough to come of age in the late 1970s, early 1980s, a sort of chronological intertidal… Read more »

Ah, human nature, you ungrateful thing—forever longing for what you don’t have, perpetually failing to enjoy what you do.  Too many of us live our lives like contrary children, not wanting to go to bed when we have to, not wanting to get out of bed when we need to.  This point has been brought… Read more »

In the English seaside town I grew up in, there was an urban legend about a certain apple tree that grew on the edge of the town park, or the Recreation Grounds, as the place was known. The story went that a woman, a single mother with three young daughters, had brought her family to… Read more »

I think it’s fair to say I have few needs and simple tastes.  Just kidding.  In reality, my needs are embarrassingly abundant, and can be convoluted to the point of byzantine.  They’re also hard to tell apart from my “wants.” The way I see it, it’s a tough and shitty old world sometimes, and we… Read more »

“The only truth is music.” – Jack Kerouac It started on a Friday night, with horn and percussion instruments quite literally fashioned from ice.  There was an epic arctic chill that evening, and it felt only a little short of apocalyptic, with brilliant crystals dancing on the soundwaves, and temperatures flirting with minus-fifty celsius.  Despite… Read more »

“pity this busy monster, manunkind” – e.e.  cummings Here is a deep philosophical question for you to ponder, dear readers: Is it better to earn one hundred dollars, or to find one hundred dollars? Perhaps there are many stoic, puritanical souls amongst you who answered that it is obviously more rewarding to have worked for… Read more »

Ah, January and February in the northern hemisphere.  Those bleak winter months when, at least where I live, the short days and long nights prowl restlessly about, like angry black dogs, in the darkness just beyond your personal campfire of routines and basic comforts.  Stray too far from that security and warmth, and who knows… Read more »

Does anyone else feel, as I do, that traveling to new places that ignite your senses and touch your soul changes your whole perspective on who you are, and where you are from? Suddenly, long after you return to your regular life, everything old is new again.  You are seeing familiar places and things through… Read more »

I think many of us have had the experience of being in that “flow state” in which we’re so filled with inspiration, that sparks seem to be flying from our fingertips.  We’re doing something we love, something we were meant to do, and minutes and hours lose their normal meaning.  We will go without rest,… Read more »

A few years ago, I found myself walking along an empty beach on a remote stretch of the northern coast of British Columbia.  The snow-capped peaks of Alaskan mountains seemed just a pebble’s throw away.  To the west was the dim, spectral blue-grey haze of the Haida Gwaii islands.  Beyond that, only Japan. But I… Read more »