Monthly Archives: November 2012

A fruity evening with Vincent Price (Belle)

I called the others, Vincent Price amongst them, to look out of the front window. A large cherry picker had arrived and a small child was being elevated on the platform. It seemed oddly dangerous. And why wasn’t the child … Continue reading

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A job role too far (Rousse)

I was in big trouble at work (again). I’d turned up 15 minutes late to the graduation ceremony. I sneaked up to the balcony and found a seat so that I could listen to the choral music. ED and an … Continue reading

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Paris attractions (Rousse)

I’d only just arrived in Paris and already I had bumped into two people from my Gallic past. First I saw PG on his way to work. He was now a grey-haired father of three, yet had kept his great … Continue reading

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Rousse’s Northumbrian anxiety

This was a worrying prospect: taking LM to meet my parents in Northumberland. Whatever would she make of their house?

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Miniscule, muscular, olive-skinned actors (Rousse)

TPR and I were the only audience members at this bizarre performance. Apparently it had been playing to a packed house every night, and the only reason that it was so quiet today was that we had chosen to come … Continue reading

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Alan Hollinghurst leads double life as computing lecturer (Rousse)

Some of my colleagues were lovely. Unfortunately the rest were vile. One of the latter set had just made a formal complaint about me: that I’d used more than my fair share of soap when taking a bath. I took … Continue reading

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James Bond and a hand-knit metallic jumper surprise (Rousse)

HH opened the massive cardboard box that she’d brought on her visit. “Just a few presents” she announced as I spied the beautiful hand-knitted string jumpers in a dazzling array of metallic colours. I grabbed a golden one and pulled … Continue reading

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Commercial opportunity for a copy shop chain (Rousse)

I ran across the road, narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic from the right, to reach the bus stop before the arrival of the number 11. Although it was a Sunday, the bus was packed. Most of the passengers were on the … Continue reading

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Rousse’s encounter with the England World Cup winners

I had to travel from Birmingham to London to check out the venue for the following day’s conference. While the others piled into cars and minibuses, I wandered around the car park regretting that I had not arranged a lift. … Continue reading

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A £50k lottery win (Rousse)

M and AP were looking very pleased with themselves – and no wonder: they’d just won £50,000 on the National Lottery.

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