Author Archives: Dreamaticus

How to save money when dining out in Kendal (Rousse)

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I moved to Kendal. At first we thought it would only be a short stay, but we took the decision to retire to the town, largely because its hilly streets would keep us fit. To save money we … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged board, cook, couple, dine, fit, food, game, hills, house, Kendal, Lake District, meal, meals, money, paper, pen, pens, player, players, recipe, request, retire, save, Scrabble, serve, steal, Subbuteo, victim, victims, wood, write | Leave a comment

Seventeenth century speech in the modern era (Rousse)

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Although fun to begin with, it eventually became rather tedious to keep up conversation in seventeenth century speak, especially for anachronistic tasks such as booking rail tickets.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 17th, anachronism, book, century, conversation, era, fun, modern, rail, seventeenth, speak, speech, tedious, ticket, tickets | Leave a comment

My wife Claire (Rousse)

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I needed a wife for a conference in the US. I took a young woman with blond hair called Claire.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blond, Claire, conference, hair, US, wife | Leave a comment

John Peel returns (Rousse)

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Dreamaticus

John Peel accompanied me through the door and down the steps to the canal. I couldn’t understand why the famous dead DJ had chosen to come with me. The BBC’s attempts at public engagement were certainly to be admired if … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged admire, canal, dead, DJ, door, famous, John Peel, public engagement, raise, return, staff, star, steps | Leave a comment

Happy times at the Manor House (Rousse)

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I lived in two modest suites at the University’s of Birmingham’s Manor House. In the summer months we had the run of the building, but when term started in September we were more restricted. For example, it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 32, academic, back, beach, Birmingham University, building, call, cattle, cheer, Christmas, condiments, cousin, cousins, dangerous, dinner, greeting, happy, herd, herder, jam, jar, Manor, Manor House, meal, modest, narrow, party, phone, present, presents, September, sitting, snow, stairs, student, students, suite, summer, teary, term, TPR, University of Birmingham, wish, year | Leave a comment

Stegosaurus and ghost live side-by-side in Edinburgh basement (Rousse)

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Dreamaticus

ECM and I called into L and T’s house on the way to work. Down in their basement they showed us their stegosaurus and another small unidentified dinosaur. Next to the two creatures was a manikin onto which was pinned … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged basement, cloak, cloth, Edinburgh, ghost, hood, house, manikin, mother, stegosaurus, white, work | Leave a comment

How to decline a wedding invitation (Rousse)

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Dreamaticus

CR, who I barely knew, invited me to her wedding. There was no way that I was prepared to trail all the way to the north of Scotland in the middle of winter just to please a stranger. How could … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged decline, get out of, invitation, invite, marriage, north, please, Scotland, stranger, trail, turn down, wedding, winter | Leave a comment

Office move clues (Rousse)

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I returned to work to discover that my new office was next to AS in a corridor with staff of another department. Was this a coded message?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged clue, clues, code, corridor, message, move, office, staff, work | Leave a comment

Nantes crocodiles, Chinese tourists, and taxi services (Rousse)

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Dreamaticus

When we walked out of Nantes railway station it all came back to me – especially the crocodiles that I used to pet in secret in the middle of the night when I sneaked into the zoo after hours. My … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boyfriend, cab, Chinese, corner, crocodile, crocodiles, father, hail, insist, job, journey, kerb, luggage, mother, Nantes, night, object, pet, posh, predict, railway, restaurant, road, roadside, secret, services, station, taxi, tourist, tourists, train, women, zoo | Leave a comment

Hot university students (Rousse)

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I begged EH to remove two lines from the minutes of the meeting. She refused, not least because I had already approved them and they were already a public record of university business. I would just have to live with … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged approve, attractive, business, danger, dangers, entries, entry, good looking, hot, line, lines, meeting, minute, minutes, public, read, record, refuse, student, students, university | Leave a comment