Monthly Archives: October 2025

Sci-fi at the Four Seasons hotel and an abandoned bike (Rousse)

Posted on October 26, 2025 by Dreamaticus

The short cycle ride to Waverley station was torturous. From Broughton Street I was diverted onto a narrow, and almost unnavigable, forest track. I dumped the bike, then continued on foot to the Four Seasons hotel. Here thousands of sci-fi … Continue reading →

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A dubious passage to Porto (Rousse)

Posted on October 26, 2025 by Dreamaticus

TPR was determined to revisit Porto. I couldn’t afford to miss yet another weekend at home, so I did my best to persuade him that a return trip to Portugal so soon after our last was not worth the effort, … Continue reading →

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Given away by a Teesside accent (Rousse)

Posted on October 14, 2025 by Dreamaticus

JC retrained as a London cabbie. I only found out when I jumped in her taxi one day. Her hair was dark again and her teeth bigger, but the big giveaway was her Teesside accent.

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Humpty Dumpties take up residence in run-down farm house (Rousse)

Posted on October 13, 2025 by Dreamaticus

I pushed open the back door of my cousins’ farm house and walked into the kitchen. There several members of my extended family were seated at the kitchen table, but only one greeted me: TB with a low groan. I … Continue reading →

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Horse riding on a Berwickshire beach (Rousse)

Posted on October 8, 2025 by Dreamaticus

AW and I rode from Edinburgh to the Berwickshire coast. We risked our lives – and those of our horses – travelling along the busy A1. At the end of our journey, AW struggled to persuade her mount to clamber … Continue reading →

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A woolly drink and a woolly case of mistaken identity (Rousse)

Posted on October 8, 2025 by Dreamaticus

I made a ‘lovely’ hot drink for TPR. The ingredients comprised hot water, coffee granules, raw sugar, a twist of mustard embroidery silk, and two balls of rusty brown wool. Later, I thought that I had found the lost green … Continue reading →

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Protecting Prince Harry from tiny footprints and an assassination attempt (Rousse)

Posted on October 6, 2025 by Dreamaticus

Prince Harry was about to be presented to the public dressed in a suit covered in tiny silvery footprints up the right leg – and it was all my fault. I’d left his suit lying across my bed, then let … Continue reading →

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The crop crusher (Rousse)

Posted on October 5, 2025 by Dreamaticus

The main role in my new job was to drive a tractor through the fields and crush crops.

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Big changes at the University of Birmingham (Rousse)

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Dreamaticus

Childhood friends SB and KH met me in Birmingham to scope out venues for next year’s university reunion. We were in for a shock when we reached the University of Birmingham campus. The French department was completely unrecognisable. The corridors … Continue reading →

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University finance genius earns special treatment (Rousse)

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Dreamaticus

DM brought a sudden end to the lunch party, reminding her guests that some important afternoon commitments now required her attention. As she shooed us out of the door, she checked that I had remembered to collect my raspberries and … Continue reading →

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