Author Archives: Dreamaticus

From a cliff top penthouse to a pokey Glasgow bedsit (Rousse)

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I lived in a tiny, but gorgeous, penthouse suite perched on a cliff with beautiful views of the blue sea crashing onto the rocks 100 feet below. We liked to leap from the cliff edge into the water, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged agreement, bedsit, below, blue, centre, city, cliff, climbing, crash, cycling, dressed, edge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, helmet, home, leap, litter, penthouse, pokey, railway, rental, rocks, ropes, sea, shore, station, suite, swim, tatters, ticket, top, TPR, train, views, visitors, water | Leave a comment

Bike crime in Humshaugh (Rousse)

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Dreamaticus

My cousin N and I were cycling across Northumberland to Hexham on his blue bike. When we reached Humshaugh I asked if we could stop for a while to admire the Georgian high street. N agreed, but only on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bike, blue, crime, cycle, dog, Goergian, handle bar, Hexham, High Street, hitch, Humshaugh, Northumberland, paniers, ride, road, seat, steal, top tube, wheels | Leave a comment

Unwanted romantic advances, a “lost” suitcase, and death at the fun run (Rousse)

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I’d loved him for some time now, but his drunken advances, although flattering, were not welcome – especially in front of my parents. When he followed me upstairs to my hotel room I was suddenly overcome with a chill of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accident, attention, £100, belongings, black, blonde, blue, booking, buses, car, cars, cellar, children, chill, competitor, death, dress, drunk, Edinburgh, entertainment, fear, feathers, festival, funerla, halters, home, horses, hotel, journey, kill, lost, marriage, parade, parents, peace, pink, plumes, processsion, railway, receipt, red, road, romance, romantic, room, run, sleep, staff, station, storeroom, suitacse, taxi, TPR, traffic, train, trams, Victorian, wool | Leave a comment

A temporary loss of digits and dancing to the Wombles (Rousse)

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Dreamaticus

One of us was required to chop off all digits on the hands. TPR bravely volunteered. Then he headed off to Reading to meet MP before the big party. They spent the morning engaged in geeky conversation and activities. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged chop, dance, digit, digits, fingers, floor, geek, geeky, hairdresser, hands, loss, lunch, party, Reading, Remember you're a Womble, sew, suit, temporary, thumbs, TPR, volunteer, wall, Womble, Wombles | Leave a comment

A dead grandmother, a muscular tramp, and a lost wallet (Rousse)

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I spent the night before the dinner at my Granny T’s house. She was looking remarkably well – and indeed fashionable – for someone who had been dead for twenty years. On the evening of the big event itself I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bank, brown, business, car, cars, cash, competitor, dead, dinner, fling, grab, grandma, grandmother, granny, guest, guests, leather, lift, lost, m, men, missing, notes, pavement, race, running, safe, security, sprint, street, thief, training, tramp, trip, venue, walk, wallet | Leave a comment

A party castle and six in a bed (Rousse)

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Dreamaticus

We’d been sharing our big double bed with four PhD students for some time when one day I found a gift bag on my pillow. Inside there was a bottle of wine and a card. The present was from F’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bag, bed, Borders, camera, card, castle, climb, countryside, double, gift, guests, house, invitation, news, notch, notches, party, Pentlands, PhD, pillow, present, research, route, single, six, spiral, staircase, students, TPR, turret, wall, wine | Leave a comment

An audience with James Herriot (Rousse)

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Dreamaticus

When I heard the exciting news that the guest speaker was James Herriot (or, more precisely, James Alfred Wight) I altered my plans so that I could stay a bit longer at Sighthill and meet the famous veterinary surgeon turned … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged all creatures great and small, audience, author, chat, chatter, connections, dead, death, Edinburgh, guest, James Alfred Wight, James Herriot, minder, plans, Sighthill, son, speaker, talk, vet, veterinary surgeon, voice, weak | Leave a comment

Library and information science at Birmingham Polytechnic (Rousse)

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I met HW and her daughter I (who now also wished to be known as H) at a swimming pool public library. There we had a long conversation about Birmingham Polytechnic, my former colleagues, and the benefit of part-time undergraduate … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham City University, Birmingham Polytechnic, colleagues, daughter, information science, librarianship, library, pool, public, qualifications, study, swimming, undergraduate, University of Central England | Leave a comment

A sister’s fame in the Anglican community (Rousse)

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I always thought that I was well networked, but now I wondered whether it was just a common family trait. All the new people that I met in London instantly recognised me as “the sister of J”. Most astonishing of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Anglican, bishop, Church of England, fame, London, name, network, sister | Leave a comment

Sleeping with Claire Skinner (Rousse)

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Claire Skinner was fast becoming my best friend. Throughout the whole time I spent with her she behaved as if we had known one another for years. We lay side by side in a big double bed at night, chatting … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged actor, bed, best, chat, Claire Skinner, famous, friend, hilarious, joke, nigt, sister, sisters, sleep, sleeping, teenage | Leave a comment