Monthly Archives: April 2018

How to progress your career (Rousse)

It was the Professional Development Review season at work. My reviewer was PN, an ancient octogenarian former librarian who was still drawing her salary. I wasn’t terribly impressed with my reviewer’s performance. Her only advice to me in respect of … Continue reading

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A winning sausage conference submission, with citation indexes (Rousse)

EH and I felt obliged to attend the University research conference, even though much of the content was of little interest to us. On our arrival we could tell that many of our colleagues had ignored the event. This was … Continue reading

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The PhD cheat (Rousse)

‘Why have you recently made so much progress on writing up your PhD?’ barked the professor at the cowering student, as if this was a terrible crime. The student looked at me from across the table, and I turned to … Continue reading

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Rousse supports Manchester City (Belle)

I was on a coach trip to the Manchester football derby. There were impressive fan facilities and a jumble sale. My friend found a lovely cream and orange sweater on a stall and ran over to me. I was amazed … Continue reading

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Tragedy on the ice at Edinburgh airport (Rousse)

I was one of hundreds of anonymous passengers stranded at Edinburgh airport, many of whom were returning home from ski-ing holidays. For entertainment the airline put on an evening display of ‘danses populaires’. JG took my arm and led me … Continue reading

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Kidnap victims escape captor by first class rail (Rousse)

BR and I were being held hostage by a crazy gunman who thought it hysterical to ‘tease’ us by holding a gun to our heads. Even funnier, in his warped mind, was to hand the deadly weapon over to each … Continue reading

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Abandoned in a fabulous Hebridean folk bar (Rousse)

It no longer seemed such a shame that the doctor had banned me from cycling when we saw that the Isle of Lewis was covered in unseasonal snow. Instead we took one of the tourist coaches heading from the port … Continue reading

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Son learns of surrogate half-sister through father’s ex-girlfriend mother of the baby (Rousse)

My godson James was the son of my ex-boyfriend. He hardly saw me in his childhood, but now a young adult he was keen to befriend me to learn more about the early life of his father. This posed difficulties. … Continue reading

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Scottish island cycling skeleton surprise (Rousse)

Cycling in the Scottish islands in May is always a pleasure with the lengthening summer days and low likelihood of rain. However, it is not so enjoyable when your wheels take you over a massive seaweed-covered midden where the skeletons … Continue reading

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A risky revealing nightdress (Rousse)

I met Belle outside the British Library. At first we were thrilled to discover that we had both topped our outfits with thin, silver-grey, suit jackets. Our joy turned to disappointment when we realised that just about every other professional … Continue reading

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