Author Archives: Dreamaticus

How to keep warm when sleeping in a pond (Rousse)

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I slept outdoors, afloat in a pond. The trick to keeping warm was to move the mattress into the sunlight whenever possible.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged float, outdoors, pond, sleep, sunlight, TPR, trick, warm | Leave a comment

Academic exclusion (Rousse)

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Dreamaticus

My boss chastised me for not meeting my targets. As punishment I was to spend two days in solitary confinement. On reflection I realised that this was completely unfair. I had actually exceeded all my targets. I complained and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, audience, book, boss, cancel, chastise, complain, confinement, display, empty, exceed, exclusion, fears, Friends, funnel, guest, house, hunt, lecture, machinery, metal, niece, pink, places, punishment, row, seats, shocking, solitary, staircase, swallow, target, targets, toilets, unfair | Leave a comment

Change your hair, change your life (Rousse)

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Dreamaticus

Following years of misery XY finally cheered up. She chopped her long lanky hair into a punky Siouxsie Sioux style, dyed it jet black, and started to smile. When she returned to her student haunts everyone was amazed at what … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged amaze, black, change, cheer, chop, cut, dye, hair, hairstyle, haunts, life, misery, punky, Siouxsie Sioux, smile, student, style | Leave a comment

The sad fate of a cute snow-white baby bear cub (Rousse)

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Dreamaticus

I chased TPR over the moorland and past the skiers who were racing down to the loch along a single strip of snow. When TPR threw his sticks in the air and dropped over a steep cliff I thought that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arms, baby, bear, carry, chase, cliff, cub, cuddly, demand, fate, game, gamekeeper, grow, loch, lose, moorland, race, release, sad, skiers, snow, snowy white, sport, steep, sticks, strip, TPR, wild | Leave a comment

A ladybird problem and an excess of dry goods at Bridge Farm, Ambridge (Rousse)

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Dreamaticus

While a guest of Pat and Tony Archer at Bridge Farm I supervised some final year undergraduates as they completed a maths and genetics project. The assessment task involved the breeding of super-strength ladybirds and storing them in jars. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1024, airborne, Ambridge, black, blond, breed, Bridge Farm, catch, cheat, check, complete, condone, cooking, count, crisis, crush, cup, double, dry goods, genetics, hands, home cooking, ingredients, jar, jars, ladybird, ladybirds, lanky, marker, markers, math, mathematics, maths, mess, pasta, Pat Archer, problem, project, pulses, rice, shy, stockpile, students, tall, Tony Archer, undergraduates | Leave a comment

Goth drag queens and yellow pigeons (Rousse)

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Dreamaticus

TPR held my hand tightly as we walked along the dark street. Although the many passers-by frightened me due to their appearance, I was fascinated by the beautiful Goth drag queens. When we emerged into the sunny square at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged appearance, bright, dark, drag, fascinate, goth, hundreds, passer-by, passers-by, pigeon, pigeons, Queen, queens, square, street, sunny, TPR, yellow | Leave a comment

Between Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant: another Dr Who (Rousse)

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Dreamaticus

Few know that between Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant there was another Dr Who: Scottish student JM.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Dr Who, Scottish, student | Leave a comment

A dearth of decent restaurants in Harrogate (Rousse)

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Dreamaticus

My step-mother-in-law organised a reunion in Harrogate. For a tourist town it lacked a decent restaurant. We tried two establishments but left each of them before a morsel of food was served simply because the waiting staff failed to come … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged chips, dearth, decent, enjoy, fish, food, Harrogate, order, pity, restaurant, restaurants, staff, step-mother, step-mother-in-law, table, takeaway, waiting, Yorkshire | Leave a comment

Doctoral degree entry requirements: Oxford and Edinburgh (Rousse)

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Dreamaticus

All the others were clutching revision notes as we entered the exam hall. I had nothing in my hands because I had done no preparation whatsoever. So what if SH got a first and I failed? Then I started to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged degree, doctoral, Edinburgh, entry, fail, first, notes, Oxford, panic, PhD, preparation, programme, requirements, revision, university | Leave a comment

Unhelpful underground officials at Heathrow (Rousse)

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Dreamaticus

The two London Underground officials at Heathrow Airport were hopeless. When I asked them which service ran to Kings Cross they simply laughed, then took another puff on their ridiculous pipes.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged airport, Heathrow, Kings Cross, laugh, officials, pipe, pipes, puff, underground | Leave a comment