Monthly Archives: January 2014

What (not) to wear to your reunion (Rousse)

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Dreamaticus

My mother-in-law told us that she was “just popping out” so why had she left us for hours with nothing to do other than put away the dishes? Eventually we gave up on her and caught a lift to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bouclé, boxy, Channel, colour, colours, dishes, fabric, final year, food court, gathering, jacket, jackets, lift, lurid, middle-aged, mother-in-law, plans, reunion, seat, seats, shopping centre, staff, stand, table, tables, undergraduate, uniform, what to wear, women | Leave a comment

Katie Price returns to work as earnings drop (Rousse)

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Katie Price (AKA Jordan) was offering her services as a beautician at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. “Why would anyone with your wealth be waxing other people’s legs?” I asked her. “I only earn £300,000 a year”, she replied as she called … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 000, £300, band, beautician, brass, cashmere, custom, drop, earnings, east European, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, entrance, ERI, grey, guide, healthcare, hospital, Jordan, Katie Price, leg, legs, Little France, man, money, NHS Scotland, patients, pensioners, plastic, return, Romanian, scarf, Scotland, student, sum, surgery, theatre, tourists, trolleys, visitors, wax, wealth, wife, work | Leave a comment

Birmingham’s Grand Canyon (Rousse)

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Dreamaticus

We now lived almost permanently in a tiny house on a rough estate in Birmingham. Even so, we welcomed many visitors, the majority of whom were young men taking breaks along the route of their very long journeys south. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ablutions, bath, beauty, Birmingham, bowl, canyon, dirty, door, estate, geological, geology, girl, girls, Grand Canyon, house, journey, lavatory, men, natural, outstanding, photographs, photos, porcelain, rough, route, significance, south, steps, teenager, teenagers, toilet, visitor, visitors, wash, white | Leave a comment

Recreated photos of a French past (Rousse)

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Dreamaticus

When I first came across the pictures I thought that they were of A and D’s wedding. I had enlargements made so that I could put them into an old-fashioned cloth-covered photograph album to give to my French friends. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged album, babies, baby, blue, bride, children, christening, clothes, dress, enlargements, family, France, French, Friends, groups, hotel, hyacinth, old-fashioned, photographs, photos, picture, pictures, present, recreated, recreating, reunion, silk, twins, wedding | Leave a comment

Christmas tree hazard (Rousse)

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I caught my foot in the trailing fairy lights at the base of the Christmas tree and tumbled across the polished wooden floor of my parents’ mansion.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Christmas, danger, fairy, floor, foot, hazard, health and safety, lights, mansion, parents, Polish, tree, wood | Leave a comment

Tomsk Womble halts divorce proceedings (Rousse)

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Dreamaticus

“Of course, you know that my husband and I couldn’t possibly separate until January 2015 at the very earliest?” asked a friend while we were in the process of discussing the divorce of another. “Why’s that?” I enquired. “In the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2014, 2015, Christmas, December, divorce, friend, halt, happiness, husband, January, long-term, proceedings, sales, separate, stray, stuffed, Tomsk, Womble | Leave a comment

Door-to-door salesman firearms shocker (Rousse)

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Dreamaticus

It was Sunday morning at 10:00am and we were still fast asleep when the doorbell rang. TPR grabbed his dressing gown and made a dash down the hallway to see who was calling. I followed him. Our caller was a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aim, asleep, basket, call, caller, cleaning, crash, display, door, door-to-door, dressing gown, face, fire, firearms, floral, flowers, follow, ground, gun, hallway, hanging, kill, man, mask, morning, product, products, rifle, sales, salesman, scamper, shocker, steps, Sunday, technqiue, threatening, TPR, trigger, wares | Leave a comment

Tricksters grow penguin crop (Rousse)

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Dreamaticus

They played a trick on me. TPR and his gentlemen friends said that they had sown the field with fir tree saplings. They hadn’t. Instead they had planted out a crop of baby penguins.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged baby, crop, field, fir, friend, Friends, gentlemen, grow, penguin, sapling, saplings, sow, TPR, tree, trick, trickers, trickster | Leave a comment

Virgin TV disappointment (Rousse)

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I had two homes in Edinburgh. The first was a basement flat with excellent storage. The other was a bright, airy Newhaven apartment with open views across the Firth of Forth. Whenever we were in one we decided … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged apartment, basement, circle, Edinburgh, elite, estate agent, favour, Firth of Forth, flat, home, homes, idiot, meal, media, Newhaven, professor, professors, project, research, schedules, sell, storage, television, TV, Virgin | Leave a comment

Pudding wine and a patient (Rousse)

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I winced when TPR ordered pudding wine. He was a last-minute guest at our business dinner, and it certainly wasn’t his place to make demands of the waiting staff to meet his expensive personal tastes. I hoped that BR and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bill, blanket, business, care, client, clients, demands, desk, dessert, dinner, expensive, flat, indiscretion, infection, mission, money, office, owe, pale, patient, pay, personal, pudding, puffy, questions, recovery, request, requests, staff, taste, tastes, teaching, team, throat, TPR, transport, waiter, waitress, wine | Leave a comment