Wes was the most charming client in my menagerie of accounting clients—a great charm causing me the utmost stress and anxiety. Accounting records were not handed over until almost the very last day of the taxman’s deadline. When shown the completed statements and...

Finally, I was free… at least for the summer. Laura had taken the boys home with her to the Philippines. I was left a bachelor. On my first Thursday evening alone, I rushed to my Scrabble club—a place I hadn’t visited for years. Remarkably, nothing had changed. All...

Talking of restaurants, Europe isn’t like back home in Calgary. Despite being branded “Cowtown”, you can find whatever cuisine your heart desires, from Uzbek to Indonesian. In Spain, it seems every restaurant serves Spanish fare. It’s the same all over Europe. After...

Come what may, Team 2 of Collins Barrow, Chartered Accountants met religiously each Monday morning at 8.30 a.m. sharp. No one arrived late. On that morning, during my first winter in Calgary, Canada, I had five blocks to walk to my office. This ‘Siberian’ weather...

Christmas in Calgary is not always full of cheer. Relying on its oil industry, the city suffers intense cycles of boom and bust. One year, I lost both my business and family home. I had been unemployed for months. Shortly before Christmas, a chance came for me to work...

“Son,” she said. “Stop dreaming of becoming a writer. Be an accountant. You’ll always have a job and pay your bills.” At the tender age of 60, I decided to rebel. Now I’m miserable and broke. Why? Because I allowed writing to possess me. It’s a woeful addiction. And...

Joel died today of a drug overdose. Or, to be politically correct, from “substance abuse”. How can you remain “politically correct” over the death of a twenty-six-year-old due to horrendous choices? Joel was Filipino, a close friend of our son Chris, and was known to...

As a child in England, every Sunday afternoon, I was sat at a table by my foster mum to pen a letter to my divorced dad in Africa. “Dear Father, I hope this letter finds you in good health.” In return, I would receive a typewritten answer from him. The flimsy paper...

As a teenager, I once accompanied a family friend on a dhow to Zanzibar. We stayed with locals at their home in Stone Town. The town was built by Omani Arabs on their conquest of the island, centuries ago. Narrow, unlit, labyrinthine streets, the width of alleyways,...

A restaurant review led me to The Indian Tearoom in Calgary, enticing me with “the best East Indian snacks and tea in town.” To my surprise, the food wasn’t East Indian but East African, from Dar-es-Salaam where I was born. The tearoom reacquainted me with all my...