I write about small towns. Both my parents came from small towns, and I spent much of my childhood visiting family and friends in small communities. Since August, though, I’ve lived in a small town. It’s a place where my roots run deep but, like every...
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that my family and I have experienced some big changes recently. From a new country to a new house, from a new brand of washing powder to new shoe and clothing sizes, in the past two months almost every aspect of daily...
It’s been almost a month since we left the UK for Canada. A time of change and excitement, but puzzlement too as we adjust to a place which is, yet isn’t familiar.It’s bigAlthough Canada is a vast country in terms of geography, it’s also big in...
Migration has been a recurring theme in my life and family history.My mother’s ancestors left Ireland in the nineteenth century to seek a better life in what was then the frontier of Canada’s Ottawa Valley.Her lone Scottish ancestor, my great-great...
Those of you who follow me on Twitter know I’ve been in Asia for my day job for the past two weeks. First in Kuala Lumpur, then Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s moniker is “Asia’s World City”. For someone like me, who grew up on the Canadian prairies and has no...