Analects - Emil Rem

One Night in Bangkok

by Emil Rem | Dec 11, 2025 | Analects

My mum—“She Who Must Be Obeyed”—divorced when I was five and took me with her to England. My dad remained in Tanzania, working for East African Airways. Every school break, Dad sent me free tickets home. But for my seventeenth birthday, he outdid himself:...

Edmonton Calling

by Emil Rem | Nov 27, 2025 | Analects

Fat Charlie, the Archangel, sloped into the room. “Have I got good news for you! A job that’ll pay you five thousand dollars a month.” To his associates, Charlie was regarded more as a grey angel — if not a black one. Imagine a super-sized Father Christmas: white hair...

Kids, Glorious Kids

by Emil Rem | Nov 20, 2025 | Analects

Last Monday, I went to get a haircut. Beside me sat a little boy perched on a wooden plank bridging the arms of the barber’s chair. It was his first haircut. How did I know? Because his parents were flitting round and round him, taking photos from every angle. I...

His Master’s Voice

by Emil Rem | Nov 13, 2025 | Analects

My favourite dates come from Sukkari, and they were running out. Time to buy some more.Off-season in Calgary — that is, after Ramadan — you can only purchase them from Basha International Supermarket in the northeast, the bastion of our Asian and Middle Eastern...

Shoeless Joe

by Emil Rem | Nov 6, 2025 | Analects

At one time, Calgary, Canada, boasted the largest Scrabble club in North America. It was all due to Siri, who started it with a group of six British ex-pats like me. Siri became an evangelist for the game. “We’ll turn our membership into a hundred within the year,” he...

Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire (part 3)

by Emil Rem | Oct 30, 2025 | Analects

My first morning at Griffith Miles Sully & Co. was spent peering over a pristine desk, robbed of its usual mess of working papers and the obelisk of files piled this way or that — the epitome of a public accountant. No one came to supervise or run through any work...