It's distressing to see all the destruction in Paris during the serial demonstrations and associated riots. We visited in October and walked streets now carpeted with shattered glass and illuminated by burning cars. As a respite from all this anger, here are is a little collection of photos we took on our rambles in Paris. Before… Read More

On the Twitter and Instagram, I've been noticing photos and memories of the old Acadian Bus Lines terminal on Almon Street, that has been knocked flat to make way for more new housing. Here is a Instagram image from urbanrenewable (Kerry Lynch) from December 3. I was late to the party, but for the last… Read More

We were listening to the news about the turmoil at Canada Post and Sheila said, You must have some photos of mailboxes. And I thought, yes I believe I do. Here is the style of mailbox I used as a child. They were scattered through neighbourhoods, attached to utility poles; one was at the corner… Read More

In the morning paper a few weeks ago, I was excited to read that many levels of government were putting a little money into keeping Nova Scotia's tiniest drawbridge in tip top condition. It was particularly interesting to see that the new Develop Nova Scotia (the old Waterfront Development Corporation with an expanded mandate) was… Read More

Recently I was at an event in town and someone I don't know well introduced me to his friend. He thought for a moment about how to describe me, and then brightened and said "Stephen appears to be the only person Tim Bousquet actually likes." This was clearly not true, because all month Tim has… Read More

We were recently in Paris for a week; sometimes we would think of home. When you attend meetings about the future of Halifax, there is talk of Density and her saucy friend Height. Often folks will evoke Paris, where density is particularly dense, in the centre of the city, without the unseemliness of tall buildings.… Read More

Do you do anything special on Remembrance Day? When I was a child, in the early 1950s, we always went to see the large parade. I don't know where the parade started; we watched as it came down Robie Street and passed Jubilee Road. Large formations of army, navy and air force, each in their… Read More

We often forget to show up. But last weekend we made the effort (it's really not that hard), and showed up at four exhibitions around town that turned out to be complementary to one another. Some of the exhibits close in the next few days (showing up "just in time" is a special category), so… Read More

Makes a nice light snack Halloween, the festival of snacks, reminded me to review my candy wrapper collection (mostly saved in the 1970s). I've posted a couple of blogs before about candy ephemera but it turns out I have not shown you some of my favourites. (Blogs here and here.) For example, look at these… Read More

As we change our clocks (and renew our supply of candles), it's a good time to notice some of the public clocks around town, and acknowledge a few others that have disappeared. Halifax is clock-centric; we celebrate a 215-year-old clock as the icon of the city. I've always thought the base of the Old Town… Read More