Northallerton joy riders (Rousse)

The last time that we visited Northallerton, we stayed one night in a hotel. Overnight joy riders stole our red Peugeot 205, then dumped it in a school playing field.

This time we left the car in a queue at a level crossing while we watched out for the passing train from the barrier. Once again the joy riders struck. However, in this case we saw them circle the vehicle round the playing field and then leap out of it when the school bell rang.

We followed the miscreants into the school building and – with the permission of reception staff – all the way into the classroom. The teacher agreed to help us find and punish the young criminals.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A dirty career switch (Rousse)

The SEB had been sacked from her high-paying job in the oil industry and was now working as a laundry assistant in a gym.

‘Good enough for her!’ we all thought, somewhat uncharitably.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Peter Rabbit, Harris Tweed, and a dodgy charity shop manager (Rousse)

TPR took my mother back to the car while I continued to root around the charity shop.

I paused over a Peter Rabbit china set. This would be a perfect present for my second cousin T’s wife S, but how would I transport it on my tandem? Then I unearthed a dozen mis-priced Harris Tweed ties amongst a load of old men’s suits, one of which would look great with TPR’s blue Harris Tweed jacket. These were transportable, but I rejected them because they looked a little worn.

The shop staff told me about the sister charity shop just a short walk away. There I might find a brown Harris Tweed hat. I reckoned that TPR would not mind waiting a little longer for me, so made my way through the shopping centre to this other shop.

At first I found the manager friendly and attentive, but then he started telling me details about my life and showing me unflattering photographs from my EdCM days. How had he found out so much information about me so quickly? It seemed that he had performed a reverse image search on a photograph of my face the minute that I had walked into the saleroom.

His interest in me was all the more irritating when he followed me to my hospital bed and hinted that he knew all sorts of sinister stories about my medic friend PM, who was caring for my poorly ankle. I couldn’t wait to discharge myself and escape from this vile person.

Meanwhile TPR had no idea where I was. I couldn’t contact him by phone to tell him because his mobile was next to mine, inside my handbag.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tram thief loses all her savings in North Yorkshire train scam (Rousse)

On the approach to Northallerton, I quickly responded to the questions of fellow rail travellers about my family by showing them the photographs that I kept in my holdall. I then packed the photos away under my three cashmere jumpers, left my seat, and readied to leave the train.

The plan was to meet the others at Preston Park Museum in Eaglescliffe. This was some distance away from Northerallerton, but I had packed a perfect mode of transport for the journey – an Edinburgh tram! I left GG almost at a standstill on his bike as I manoeuvred the tram out of Northallerton station and on to the open road.

It was only as I was trundling past lush North Yorkshire meadows that I considered the crime of stealing a tram and the practicalities of returning it to the depot in Edinburgh without being noticed.  This turned out to be the least of my worries, however, when I discovered that my holdall was no longer in my possession.

The questions about my family on the train had been part of an elaborate scam. Somewhere near Darlington someone was now masquerading as me and spending all my savings.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Three in a bed shocker (Rousse)

Although DM had a great reputation for hospitality, and the accommodation that she presented to me was exactly as described, I was shocked when I realised that DM expected me to sleep three in a bed with my university friends JS and DS.

This was such a pity because DM had taken much care to make the room in her son’s house as welcoming as possible. The bed was so cosy with layers and layers of blankets. There was even a lovely warm hot water bottle nestled between the sheets.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

John Cleese car beater copycat (Rousse)

John Cleese must have heard similar stories hundreds of times before.

Nevertheless, he was still kind enough to smile when I explained that my father used to lose his temper Basil Fawlty style, and could easily be envisaged striking the bonnet of his car with the branches of a poor unsuspecting tree.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bus fatalities on the Isle of Lewis (Rousse)

TPR and I gave up walking and caught the 38 bus – bang on time at 17:01 – for the rest of our journey.

I sat at the back with a young Polish man who marvelled at the standing stones and stone circles strewn across the Lewisian moorland. TPR chose to travel at the front, next to the bus driver.

I was fully conscious at the time of the accident, and throughout its aftermath. I remember the sharp bend in the road, the bright yellow gorse along the verge, and the screams of the passengers as the vehicle overturned. I was the first to walk free of the wreckage and dial 999.

As for TPR, he was crushed to death alongside the bus driver.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Risk of bias in ‘The Rest is history’ episodes puzzles Sandbrook and Holland (Rousse)

Dominic Sandbrook looked aghast when the Rest is history panel member from York University interrupted him. What right did he have to cut the recording of Sandbrook’s opening line of the latest episode?

‘You must drop these background narratives at the start of a new topic,’ the panel member commanded. ‘I was at a conference in Newcastle last week where we all agreed that such context setting is completely inappropriate. For a start, it always introduces bias to the later analysis.’

Sandbrook turned to his co-presenter Tom Holland with a look that read ‘How on earth do we explain the political and historic context of early twentieth century Finland without reference to prior decades of Russian and Swedish rule?’

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Dead’ sister alive in Spain (Rousse)

I was on holiday in Spain rummaging through junk on a flea market stall when my phone rang. My sister J was calling with news that we had feared for years: S had died. What made it worse was that our sister had taken her own life in her boyfriend’s flat in Newcastle. It was difficult for me to speak on the street, so I arranged to call back J later that day.

Unable to hide my grief, I turned to my travelling companion and passed on the tragic news. S lifted her head to stare straight back at me. ‘How can I be dead in England when I am here in Spain on holiday with you?’ she asked.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Falling for a romance scammer (Rousse)

He was tall, dark, handsome – and impeccably dressed in a starched white shirt adorned with gold cufflinks that peeped out of the sleeves of his sharp dark grey suit. When JM introduced him to me, I believed that I was in the company of an African prince.

I was soon besotted – so much so that on the day that I lost TPR trudging around the museum in his shabby old Barbour coat, it seemed perfectly natural for me to fall into the arms of this glamorous semi-stranger. Within minutes I was ready to give up a relationship of over four decades for an exciting new life with a handsome young man.

But then it suddenly struck me that I knew very little about this charmer who was stroking my hand. How old was he? Was he financially secure?

When he admitted that he was 32 and had ‘a few money problems’, I came to my senses.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment