Okay stone people, you got me. I visited Newgrange, your ancient Irish burial site and I think I hurt myself trying to figure out what your stone age society was all about. Sure, it was interesting but the squeezing and squirming through the stone, cold passageway took a toll on my back. I should have stuck to the brochure but no, I had to see for myself.

Sure, it’s bizarre but would you believe the mind that concocted this weird-looking contraption created a real life narrow-gauge railroad? And it was popular too. The year was 1951 and although Britain and the Allies had “won” WWII six years earlier, much of London still lay in ruins. The UK was coping with food shortages - rationing was still in effect – and the country was desperately trying to rebuild its economy. People were anxious, uneasy and depressed. What a better time to have a party.

As I enter the massive lobby of the HSBC Bank in downtown Vancouver, Alan Storey’s Pendulum sways in perpetual motion. To the left, Connie Sabo’s delightful mesh constructions hang suspended above the floor. The Pendulum Gallery is the venue for Sabo’s new installation, information + impression, on view until Feb. 4. The exhibition consists of three works and, at first, Sabo’s central piece, information + impression, flanked on either side by Caravan and Memes, seems lost in the cavernous space.

Lorna Crozier answers the telephone. "It's just so beautiful. I'm sitting in my study which has a sliding glass door which leads to a deck which surrounds a pond. The turtles are out right now sunning on a rock, and I can see an orange ribbon of fish that lie underneath the water lilies which have just started opening up." Lorna uses her words to paint a picture I cannot see. But then she is a poet.

Listen, I love Rome. I really do but now that we’re more or less free to travel again, I feel compelled to fill you in on the Eternal City. Masochists will love it. So will anybody else drawn to stress and anxiety. Don’t get me wrong, Rome has a lot of things going for it. Historical buildings, pizza, magnificent museums, pizza…

It was raining when the airport shuttle dropped me off at the Millennium Hotel opposite George Square in downtown Glasgow. It was 2017 and I was transferred to Scotland for a three-year stint at our branch office. The cold and the rain didn’t create a good first impression.

“I was eight when I knew I wanted to be a scientist,” renowned marine biologist Alexandra Morton tells me from her home on Vancouver Island. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do but I didn’t have a picture of it. I didn’t know it was possible. I had parents who were worried about my intense interest in reptiles and amphibians rather than boys. So when [Jane Goodall] appeared on the cover of the National Geographic, she just opened the door. This was normal. This was socially acceptable.”