Monthly Archives: February 2021

Christmas 2020 in June 2021 (Rousse)

Finally, six months later than anticipated, at the end of June 2021 we were permitted to host our annual Christmas party (2020). But first, I had to remove AD from the kitchen. JS, who knew exactly who he was and … Continue reading

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An iPhone and an accident on the way to the Isle of Skye (Rousse)

I blame DP of Strathclyde University for the debacle over my iPhone. Under her watchful eye, I plugged it in to charge for ten minutes in the cafĂ© of the Forth Road Bridge service station. Then we we set off … Continue reading

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London to Oxford and Oxford to Edinburgh by train (Rousse)

It really was too much to ask my 81 year-old mother to walk all the way from London to Edinburgh, so I suggested that we cut a few miles off the route by taking the train to Oxford. In the … Continue reading

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A runner and a red, 60-litre, flip-top kitchen bin (Rousse)

Hundreds of faster runners passed me as I headed south along the cycle path. I wished that I could run faster. Perhaps my times would improve if I abandoned carrying the soil-filled, red, 60-litre, flip-top kitchen bin?

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Fake finance guru fools all on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme (Rousse)

We were all horrified when my niece BM announced at the breakfast table that she was about to be interviewed by a financial journalist on Radio 4’s Today programme. What on earth did she know about big business? It was … Continue reading

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Award of a silver BA Executive Club card (Rousse)

I was delighted that the corporate purchase of a last-minute return flight to Argentina awarded me a silver British Airways Executive Club card.

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Cash-collecting criminal caught on CCTV (Rousse)

I added to my fortune whenever I paid a visit to the cash dispenser just outside Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel. Here each morning on my way to work, I pretended to make a transaction. In reality, I was picking up wads … Continue reading

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Book group bloke ban (Rousse)

I’d had enough of TPR’s ‘book’ group buddies. Each Monday night he invited more and more men to the house, offering them a seat at our dinner table along with a plentiful supply of beer. I eventually cracked the day … Continue reading

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Marilyn Monroe’s foreknowledge of death (Rousse)

Someone asked me if we should tell the young Marilyn Monroe that she would die in her mid-thirties. I responded that she probably knew this already from checking her Wikipedia entry.

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Book group blunder (Rousse)

Our book group meeting was packed out with non-members including N & SY, and a red haired former student of mine whose name I could not remember. The venue for the night was a turreted Victorian lodge house next to … Continue reading

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