Funfare for the Common Man

Editor's note: this is an excerpt from the book the author is currently working on. It is not a book about war or politics or anything necessarily directly related to Ukraine, but it's impossible to ignore what's going on. Therefore, the author has added various Interludes in between chapters, and this is the fourth such Interlude. The book is tentatively titled An Accidental Career. He has decided to share this latest instalment in light of events on the morning of Monday, 10 October. Stadtpark, 14 October, 2022. Defenders Day in Ukraine Monday, 10 October : a crisp, gorgeous autumn morning, as I sat on a bench in Stadtpark, central Vienna, looking at the colourful leaves, contemplating life and what I would do in the day ahead. Rewind to the Introduction, where I found myself in virtually the same exact spot some six months ago in early spring, with the same glorious sunshine, not long after I had arrived in Vienna, wondering what lay in store in the months ahead. It was ...

Kunsthistorisches Museum, August 2022 'They were not true pub-crawlers, who are content to spend hour upon hour in slow tippling and silent reverie in a tavern. No, these two were merely visitors, who went to taverns only for the sake of daily arguments, and once there, cared not a whit about what they ate or drank, minding only what was said. They would have sat around in a tavern forever, if it were a matter of relating some heroic adventure, especially if they were able to weave themselves into the ramifications of the narrative.' Life is a Dream , Gyula Krudy Sucker for nostalgia that I am, I couldn’t help but reflect on the start of the epic adventure that started for me right around 20 years ago, September 2002, as I turned my back on a long-term relationship, an extended stint in the US for university and then work, and embarked on a month-long solo backpacking excursion around central Europe. It was a new chapter in my life, and I wasn’t sure what or where I was heading...

Holy cow, has it been over a year and a half since I last posted something? Holy moly, is this my first (and almost certainly only) post of 2017? Did I really only write one post – my last – in 2016? What on earth has happened to me? I really am out of form here: I’m using phrases like ‘holy cow’ and ‘holy moly’. I don’t actually think I’ve ever used those, in either print or speech, until now. I’m clearly out of practice. You know how long it’s been? So long, that I couldn’t find my own damn blog whilst searching on my browser because I’d forgotten the web address. I did a few searches with key words and was getting nowhere fast and right when I was about ready to throw in the towel, I remembered that I could check my Facebook page and find it there. Seemingly I still haven’t quite mastered how to use Facebook, but that’s another [boring] story for another [boring] day. I often discover messages written to me 2 months after the fact and if I do get round to replying, I have t...

Part IV on my Reflections of 10 years of Teaching: How students annoy us If you missed parts I, II and III, you can easily find them on the right of this page, from April, May and July. What started out as a monthly series of ‘this time 10 years ago’ teaching reflections has hit a lengthy hiatus – at least I’m consistently optimistic even if I can’t deliver on my promises. Forgive me – I’ve been busy. But this has turned out to me one of my most pondered-over, drawn-out posts. I started writing this almost 3 months ago. I wrote a draft and put it aside, to be polished up a day or two later. But then I remembered one or two more ideas and then put off adding them for a week or two. And then I thought of more…and more…and then it started to get out of control and I could barely stop myself. I’ve probably updated this, re-ordered some of the points, added a few, deleted a couple…I don’t know, about 9-10 times now. I’d make a lousy journalist – I’m undisciplined,...