My luck had finally run out. After completing 106 consecutive weekly analects/blogs, I hit a brick wall. Every analect posted attracted a raft of reader comments ranging from “Loved it”, to “Couldn’t understand it”, to “Your worst yet”. But each had one component: my...

At the top of the steep stone steps, a large, ornate stone arch greeted us – the Puerta de Toledo – one of several gates converging onto the Plaza Puerta del Sol, the grandest of Madrid’s squares. Once again, the scene teemed with tourists. Everyone barged into each...

  The merciless heat, dust and incessant squeeze of the horde at the Royal Palace of Madrid had drained us. Entering Calle de Bailén, we were parched. At this time in the afternoon, the broad, gently curving boulevard was deserted, its inhabitants presumably...

It was the beginning of the end. Today was the last day of our family holiday in Spain and, indeed, of our future travels together. A week before our holiday, Alex had graduated from the University of British Columbia, immediately garnering a job in Vancouver,...

At high school, Eric was my best friend. He was Scottish, a rarity in our Berkshire village. We prided ourselves on how open and liberal we were, detesting and calling out any form of prejudice that raised its ugly head. In one of our discussions, out of the blue, I...

My father was so popular, he was nicknamed before he was born. Along with perforated eardrums (teachers regularly slapped his ears for being a mischief-maker), Dad left school with two things he would carry for the rest of his life: high school failure (like his son...

Last Thursday, Victoria Mboko, an 18-year-old Canadian (her family emigrated from Congo), won the Canadian Open Tennis Championship in front of her home crowd in Montréal. At the start of the year, “Vicky” was ranked 351. She scraped into the tournament as a wild...

It was all Laura’s fault. “Hon, if we’re going to Tanzania, can we visit a game park? The kids would love it.” “I’m going home after thirty years. I thought we could spend a week in Dar-es-Salaam, looking up relatives and friends I’ve lost touch with. If we go to,...

I met Hazel on my first trip to Cyprus. Thin as a twig, white-haired, she strode along the promenade in front of my hotel in Pyla, a seaside village on Dhekelia Road. Her beige McGill University cap matched her shorts. Hazel drew my attention by annoyingly outpacing...

What was I thinking? I had got myself lumbered, training as an accountant at £600 a year ($1,200), with two weeks’ unpaid study leave to pass my exams. I was 18 years old, a high school failure, scraping into a CPA programme by the skin of my teeth just before its...