Alex Carrick’s Blog

One can easily turn reflective with the passage of the years. Birthdays serve to stimulate strolls down meandering and wayward paths. As I approach “the golden years”, I know I’m supposed to be thinking of travel, playing golf, putting my feet up, reaping my rewards. But I’m not sure any of that is for me.  So here’s [...]

[Read more →]

This story is based on a popular joke which I believe has the wrong punch line, that a talking dog turns out to be a big liar. If one starts with the conclusion, then what might the background be? Also, please be sure to read the supplementary section in italics at the end of this tale. [...]

[Read more →]

It was late of an evening and I’d run out of milk and snacks. Besides, I wanted some fresh air. That’s how it came about I was on my way to the local Daisy Mart before it closed at ten p.m. You don’t get fog in the city much anymore. Too much traffic. There’s an [...]

[Read more →]

Donna and I have attended an auction or two. It’s a fascinating experience, filled with tradition and a lively cast of characters. Not least among the latter is the auctioneer. He’s charged with keeping things going and, of course, making as much money as possible for sellers and the “house”. On that score and for [...]

[Read more →]

Griselda Beamish was happier than she had been in a hundred years. While others of her kind were having trouble adjusting to modern times, Zelda embraced the new. All of the most recent advances in technology made her life simpler. There were opportunities that she could never have imagined before. Take her job for instance. [...]

[Read more →]

Pug-nosed Pat and gum-chewing Chris, two long-time Irish cops, were back on the day shift after a month spent on the night rotation. Their patrol area ranged from the entertainment district in the east to the upscale shopping blocks downtown. Being a cop in these days was quite a different experience than it had been [...]

[Read more →]

“When one scoop of ice cream is too much, two scoops can sometimes be just right.” That was something my wife, Donna, said one summer evening – perhaps unwittingly, we’ve never been quite sure – when the family walked to the local ice cream parlour for a cool treat. Then she demonstrated her belief in this [...]

[Read more →]

Everybody’s crazy, some more than others. I don’t mean to make light of people who have deeply rooted problems that make their lives much more difficult. I’m talking about the large proportion of the population that passes for normal.   Among everyday acquaintances, everyone is bonkers. Some have addiction issues. Some have anger issues. Others [...]

[Read more →]

Once upon a time, there was a young Canadian boy name Richard, living in a small Prairie town, who played a major role in world events. Up until the age of 18, he did very little to distinguish himself or to set himself apart from the rest of the population. In fact, he’d shown such a [...]

[Read more →]

You know your working day is probably going to seem “not too bad” only in retrospect when one or more of the following happens early on.     (1) The “chimmy changas” you ate last night have stopped dancing and have now turned surly.

[Read more →]