Author: Michael Murray

Along Queen East, all the solitary men in laundromats look desolate, angry even, as if aware that their presence there was evidence of a life gone sideways. Disappointed and bored, they sit about reading graphic novels and staring dazed at their feet, their unloved clothes slowly tumbling dry. At the school where I take our…

As most everybody knows, The Rapture is predicted to be taking place on Saturday, May 21st. For most of us, this will have no immediate impact, as only “The Elect” will be gathered into the air to meet Christ and be called home to paradise. The rest of us will be left here on Earth…

Today I have given the Blog over to Heidi, our Miniature Dachshund. ******************************************************************************************** Heidi like it when her life simple. See ball. Chase ball. Hear food dumped into bowl. Eat food in bowl. Easy. Heidi like her routine. Then suddenly two-legged boss-machines pick Heidi up, throw her in car and drive her to country and…

Not that long ago while in a bar on Queen Street I met a middle-aged guy who told me he was a Slam Poet. Not that surprisingly, he was alone and drunk, and in no time he was offering to share some of his work with me. He leaned toward me, his eyes slight glassy,…

Typically, when we told a cab driver or somebody at the airport that we were heading to Rethymno, we would get a response along the lines of: “Ah, Rethymno, my father came from there.” “Ah, it is the third largest town in Crete.” “Ah, Rethymno, it is really making an effort!” Along the beach strip…

Positano, on the Amalfi Coast in Italy is almost impossibly beautiful. Cut into the mountain, the village looks out over a coast line that seems that it should be populated exclusively by movie stars, supermodels and Russian oligarchs. While Rachelle took a break from the beach one afternoon and did some shopping, I stayed put.…

Overly elaborate in our attire, self-conscious of the culture of fashion we imagined inhabited the city, we wandered the streets of Rome looking for a restaurant a friend had recommended. TV antennas, like beacons to the modern world, dotted the rooftops of squat, antique apartment buildings, their wires falling down the facade and disappearing into…

While Rachelle and I were trying to figure out what we were doing at the Termini Metro station in Rome, a man popped up to help us. Middle-aged and dressed in a mishmash of found objects that almost gave him the appearance of a hipster, he began to enthusiastically point to spots on the map…

On Sunday, when Rachelle and I were it the airport in Toronto waiting for our flight to Italy, we happened to see underachieving Toronto Raptor Andrea Bargnani. He was standing at Alitalia’s Magnifico counter, which caused a tittering amongst the rest of us watching admiringly from the serpentine line stretching out from Economy. Even though…