Monthly Archives: February 2012

Unbearable workloads: could cloning be the answer? (Rousse)

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Locked away in a hall of residence room in Nantes, I wasn’t coping very well at all. I had returned to the city to take some extra courses and gain credits for a full French undergraduate degree, even though it … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach, beret, clone, clones, cloning, degree, Florida, girls, graduate, graduates, hall, holiday, iSchool, load, Nantes, qualification, qualifications, residence, reunion, room, school, skirt, studies, Teesside High School, undergraduate, university, Washington, work, workload | Leave a comment

Quadratic equations fox faculty and first years (Rousse)

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The bed creaked as the enormous dark-haired woman clambered over to my side. “Get off!” I demanded. “When TPR and I bought this big bed it was just for the two of us. You’re not welcome. I want to read … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, cry, crying, equation, equations, exercise, exercises, faculty, first years, Freshers, freshman, freshmen, guilt, job, lecturers, math, mathematics, maths, notepad, papers, peace, pencil, professor, professors, quadratic, staff. lecturer, Sunday, syllabus, TPR, weep, weeping, woman | Leave a comment

“Friend” of royalty responsible for luggage loss (Rousse)

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Although the conference had changed format for 2012, it still attracted the same crowd. AA and I waved greetings to everyone we knew as we crossed the main exhibition hall on our way out to check in at the hotel. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aluminium, bank, banks, bog, border, camera, career, careers, conference, degree, Diana, drown, drowning, exhibition, France, German, Germany, hall, hotel, Kensington Palace, lost, luggage, palace, peat, pink, postgraduate, Princess of Wales, purse, rail, research, revolving door, royal, royalty, skirt, stand, stream, study, suitcase, television, train, vouchers, water, wool | Leave a comment

Elvis Costello and Libby Purves forced to share scant office space at the BBC (Rousse)

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Dreamaticus

MR and I got ahead of the others on a Sunday walk across the Pentland Hills with colleagues. Enthusing over Great British walks, MR declared how he would love to follow the Roman Wall trail from the south of England … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BBC, bet, betting, coffin, corridor, corridors, dead, death, door, Elvis Costello, envelope, estate, filing cabinet, filing cabinets, fire, fire doors, Hadrian, Hadrian's Wall, Heathrow, horse, horses, housing, Libby Purves, M25, necklace, Northumberland, office, Pentland Hills, Pentlands, prize, race, racing, Radio 4, Roman, Roman Wall, Romans, space, stationery, stones, Sunday, surprise, theme park, treasure hunt, walk | Leave a comment

Woman slave held captive in basement flat (Rousse)

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Someone had thrown a brick through our study window. It must have been with some force: the brick had crashed through the shutters as well as the astragalled panes. We wondered whether this was anything to do with the shouting … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged astragal, astragalled, basement, brick, captive, flat, screaming, shouting, shutters, slave, window, woman | Leave a comment

French chef fails to impress (Belle)

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Dreamaticus

In a scene reminiscent of Oliver Twist, the three contestants carried their bowls of French onion soup towards the top table. The famous chef make a pronouncement: “This is the soup any British housewife should be able to make”. Although … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Charles Dickens, chef, competition, French onion soup, Mr Sheen, Oliver Twist | Leave a comment

Farmyard noises trump smoking as acceptable behaviour in public (Rousse)

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Dreamaticus

It was the day of my big performance. It didn’t go quite as anticipated. Granted, my father kept his promise not to heckle me. Instead he did much worse by interrupting the vote of thanks with farmyard noises. The speaker … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged behaviour, farm, farmyard, father, heckle, heckling, inaugural, lecture, noise, noises, performance, professorial, smoking, speaker, university, yard | 1 Comment

Egypt at Easter? Rousse is unimpressed

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I sat on the back seat of the car with my colleagues BB, JK, EH and XL. BB pulled a holiday brochure out of his rucksack. “This is where we should all go together next Easter” he enthused. The page … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brochure, budget, Canada, car, driving, Easter, Egypt, holiday, seat | Leave a comment

Danes are more beautiful than Brits – so says Finnair (Rousse)

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I raced through Gatwick Airport, desperate to reach the Finnair flight to Oslo before the gate closed. DC was also at the airport, en route to Greece. Delighted to find company, he asked my advice on where to purchase a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged airline, airport, baggage, blond, blonde, boots, Brit, Britain, Brits, confiscation, control, Dane, Danes, Danish, daughter, Denmark, departure, flight, gate, Gatwick, lounge, Oslo, Paris, run, running, Scandinavia, shop, sprint, sprinting, suitcase, ticket, UK, weekend, woman | Leave a comment

Roman latrines, Basil Brush, memorials for loved ones, and a bargain taxi fare (Rousse)

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Dreamaticus

There was just enough time before the service to make a quick dash to the communal toilet block. My sister S and I took our places side-by-side on the wooden bench, more than a little self-conscious in the company of … Continue reading →

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