Analects …
a collection of short literary or philosophical extracts
Not all ideas fit neatly into the pages of a book. When I see, hear or read something that moves me—a news story, a snippet of conversation, a musical phrase, a storyline or cityscape—I capture the thoughts it provokes by jotting them down. From art and sports—whether Wimbledon or the World Cup—to politics, love and war, all topics have the potential to spark my imagination.
Christmas With The Asletts
Weeks before Christmas, the Aslett women would gather at Flo’s—my foster mother, the grand matriarch of the clan—to make pasties, fruit cakes and mince pies. Coins from the past—copper farthings ,...
Stone Town
"Felix, can you walk me through Stone Town today? It's been 30 years since my last visit." Felix was my go-to guide in Zanzibar. We crossed the square in front of my hotel Serena to enter a warren...
Pains In The Neck
Coming home last week from a six o’clock breakfast meeting, I noticed our neighbours’ lighted window. The curtains were undrawn, two boys—7 and 8—were scampering hither and thither, their mother...
Wonders of the Big Island
“Pops, why are we waiting here?” Chris asked. Our family of four had been stuck in a minibus, built to accommodate 20, for an hour in the parking lot of Hilo Airport. The boys had been woken up at 6...
Written in the Stars?
I wanted to write since I was yay high, but didn’t get round to it until I was 60. Having completed the second chapter of my first book Chasing Aphrodite, I hit a mental block. The chapter completed...
Seeing Red
“Old Collins won’t like that.” It was Gary, my colleague at the accounting firm of Collins Barrow, Calgary, Canada. He was staring at the 5,000 piece, all-red jigsaw puzzle spread across the coffee...
A Game of Whac-A-Mole
Yahya Sinwar was born in Khan Yunis refugee camp in 1962 to a family who fled from Ashkelon during the 1948 Palestine War. At the age of 27, Sinwar was given four life sentences by Israel for the...
Park Güell
“Not another museum!” my boys chimed in together. “It’s not a museum. It’s a modern-day cathedral, still being constructed. A masterpiece in the making,” I pleaded. It was a beautiful warm, sunny...
Cherish Your Failures
Years ago, I attended a meeting held by The Forum Group. Their pitch was directed at those dissatisfied with their lives. For $600, you were promised a course that would turn your life around. The...
Pudong
“Where are we?” Laura asked. “I don’t know,” I answered in bewilderment. “But you booked the trip, remember? Our hotel was supposed to be overlooking the Bund and the Oriental Pearl Tower.” “Well, I...
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Emil Rem, an eccentric accountant becomes a writer of eccentric characters, in exotic locales—each chapter taking us on a trip into his fascinating twisted world. Born to a close knit, middle class Muslim East Indian family in Dar-es-Salam, Africa in the 50’s, he is then moved to Maidenhead England at the age of five. The next twenty years are spent shuttling between England and East Africa, wearing a St. Christopher’s cross one minute and attending church, to wearing a green armband and attending Muslim religious classes in Africa the next. Moving to Canada, marrying a woman from the Philippines and having two boys only adds further texture to his stories.