Monthly Archives: February 2013

Changes in the marine environment to suit a red-haired mermaid (Rousse)

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We were coming to the end of an uneventful family holiday. On the morning of our last full day away I bounced out of the big shared family bed and asked my little sister (aged 12) whether she would like … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged attraction, attractions, bed, bedclothes, canvas, comb, combing, cut-out, cut-outs, Edinburgh, environment, family, father, first, hair, holiday, home, MacBook, Marine, mermaid, nude, painting, picture, present, red-haired, rock, scenes, second, semi-naked, sister, sleep, space, underwater, wall, work | Leave a comment

An undesirable neighbour (Rousse)

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We moved back to Birmingham into a large Victorian house on a busy road. Our new next door neighbour wore a long dark beard and kept his hair tied up in a black turban. He told us that he was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged attack, Birmingham, boat, boats, bread, business, canal, car, car park, cook, crane, cranes, dirt, father, filth, house, inherit, Korea, neighbour, neighbourhood, neighbours, office, parking, physical, potatoes, rental, road, roof, turban, undesirable, Victorian | Leave a comment

Kate shops at Topshop (Rousse)

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Catherine Duchess of Cambridge crossed Princes Street from opposite the Balmoral Hotel and headed right towards Princes Mall. “Catherine!” I called. She ignored me. I called again, and then she turned round. She looked so beautiful and elegant in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Balmoral Hotel, Catherine, dress, Duchess of Cambridge, Edinburgh, fleece, Kate Middleton, kisses, Princes Mall, Princes Street, purple, pyjamas, road, shopping, Topshop, wrap | Leave a comment

A love affair in outer space (Rousse)

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I paid VJ a visit to find out if she wanted to travel up to work with me. I was also keen to know whether any of her colleagues could help me find some materials to prepare a tutorial. She … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged affair, band, beard, bleed, box set, charity, colourfast, dye, film, films, love, movie, movies, outer, outer space, plastic, space, technician, tights, tutorial, unemployed, work, yellow | Leave a comment

But is it art? Ride the purple flume and admire a stick of celery at the Baltic (Rousse)

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I launched myself into the purple flume with no idea of what I would land in or on at the bottom. My eventual destination turned out to be an art exhibition at the Baltic curated by staff from Northumbria University. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, badge, Baltic, bead, celery, chairs, exhibition, flume, Gateshead, glass, green, identity, lecture, name badge, New York, Newcastle, Northumbria, Northumbria University, photography, pin, presentation, purple, space, speaker, star, stick, woman | Leave a comment

A gifted child (Rousse)

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I were very proud of our new baby. Just two days old, she was already crawling at speed on her six long black legs, chattering to herself. The latest additions to her vocabulary included four syllable abstract nouns, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abstract, advanced for her age, advanced for his age, baby, beetle, chatter, child, crawl, dog, gifted, human, legs, noun, nouns, TPR | Leave a comment

Congratulations to the one-legged widower father of the bride (Rousse)

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My one-legged widowed father had done a fabulous job preparing the house for my sister’s wedding. With the help of a woman from the village, he’d set up three mini-dormitories so that all the guests who had decided to stay … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, bride, congratulate, congratulations, daughters, dormitories, dormitory, father, guest, guests, job, one-legged, overnight, sister, stranger, village, wedding, widower, woman | Leave a comment

Questions of etiquette (Rousse)

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Dreamaticus

One friend accidentally copied in a second when he sent an e-mail reply to say that he couldn’t make it to my birthday party – so now she knew that she hadn’t been invited. How could I explain why not … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged birthday, crowd, etiquette, feelings, flat, friend, Friends, hurt, invitation, party, questions, running, shower, showers, unwelcome, welcome | Leave a comment

Nepotism in the workplace (Rousse)

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Dreamaticus

There were three new members of the senior management team: me, RG-J, and a tall tanned blonde rower. The latter, whose name was Karen, turned up to work in a bikini and sunbathed on the lawn outside while the rest … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bad, behavior, behaviour, bikini, blonde, book, fireplace, first, fury, grey, insult, law, lawn, management, men, monograph, Mummy, nepotism, overweight, papers, publications, rage, rower, scream, senior, senior management, shriek, student, tan, tanned, woman, work, workplace | Leave a comment

Selling timeshares in Spain with coconut cakes and coffee (Rousse)

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We knew that KMcM lived and worked in Spain, so it came as no surprise to find her in a hotel ballroom delivering a presentation on timeshares in a long shimmery black backless dress that showed off her tan. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged audience, backless, ballroom, Birmingham University, black, cake, cakes, coconut, coffee, concerns, conversation, dregs. coffee, dress, flask, flasks, hotel, modularisation, module, Spain, Spanish, students, tea, timeshare, timeshares, trolley, university, University of Birmingham, University of Hertfordshire | Leave a comment