Stories • Photographs • Travel • Commentary
I’ve been around.
I took pictures.
I noticed things.
I’m Tom — The Retired Menace. Canadian first and foremost. Part autobiography, part photo archive, part travel journal, and part running commentary on a world that keeps providing material.
I can smell bullshit sooner than I can see it.
About the menace
Tom. Retired. Apparently still unsupervised.
I’ve been around enough to know that the brochure version of almost anything is usually missing the interesting bits.
I travel, I take pictures, I remember things selectively, and I occasionally form opinions before anyone has had the good sense to stop me.
I’m also Spike’s best friend, which is probably the most reliable character reference on this entire website.
There are stories here from Canada and a fair chunk of everywhere else — some beautiful, some ridiculous, some involving questionable judgement, and a few that may improve with distance.
Places I’ve been
A small map. The stories are bigger.
A few miles later
Canada first. Then the road kept going.
Cuba and Israel/Syria are already part of the archive, and the rest of the map will fill in as I work through old photographs, old trips and the parts I’m still willing to admit happened.
Explore the mapPlaces, galleries & old evidence
From the pages
Banff Alberta
Alberta, 2022 — Out West, Out of Uniform In 2022 I went out west to see Dan and Mike. It was my second trip…
Open →Tom Rutledge
About The Retired Menace I’m Tom — The Retired Menace aka Spike’s best friend. Canadian first and foremost. I’ve been around a bit. I’ve…
Open →Privacy Policy
Who We Are This website is The Retired Menace, operated by Tom - Spike's Best Friend The website address is: https://theretiredmenace.com This is a…
Open →Fresh trouble
Latest posts
450 Days and Counting
Day 450. I’ve stopped counting the sunrises and started counting the excuses, because that’s apparently the more useful metric these days. What gets me isn’t any single headline…
My Daily Driver
Durban Poison — Full Strain Profile Strain Profile · Pure Sativa Landrace DurbanPoison The espresso of cannabis — a pure African landrace that changed the world 25%Max THC…
I’ve Seen
Sass Jordan: Complete Timeline Canadian Rock · Complete Timeline SassJordan Birmingham-born, Montreal-raised — Canada’s rawest rock voice 4Juno Awards 10Studio Albums #5Billboard Blues Chart 6Seasons — Canadian Idol…
Tonight brought to you by …
Purple Urkle — Full Strain Profile Strain Profile · Indica-Dominant · 80/20 PurpleUrkle The Emerald Triangle’s most mysterious indica — and the grandmother of California’s modern exotic market…
Canadian Icons I want to See
Canadian Rock · Complete Timeline Tom Cochrane& Red Rider From the El Mocambo to the Highway of Life Formed: Toronto, Ontario, 1975 (as Red Rider) Tom joined: 1978…
Fingers and Toes 40 times at least I’ve Seen
Forty times at least, or it feels that way. I ran out of fingers and toes a while ago and stopped counting. Most of those were the bar…
“I can smell bullshit sooner than I can see it.
— Tom, The Retired Menace