Author Archives: Dreamaticus

International cellist fails to avert breakfast party disaster (Rousse)

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The star attraction at our breakfast party was international cellist US. I was so proud to have successfully tempted her over from Denmark to Hexham to spend the morning at my long-dead grandmother’s house. Other guests included JC and VJ … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bits, Broadway Gardens, cellist, Denmark, grandmother, grannny, Hexham, jam, jeans, raspberry, Scandinavian, smokers, smoking, toast | Leave a comment

Central Birmingham palace “sponsored” by Asian airline (Rousse)

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Dreamaticus

We travelled in a smart black stretch limo to see the new house of Z and SM. This was the most appropriate form of transport for visiting multimillionaires. In short, if we turned up in our own (modest) car, we … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged airline, Asian, Birmingham, car, computing, drive, driving, elephant, entrance, hall, hot tub, house, IT, limo, limousine, logo, millionaire, millionaires, multimillionaire, multimillionaires, new-build, palace, room, stretch, tile, tiles | Leave a comment

A happy job move (Rousse)

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I took up my new post so quickly that there was no time to organise a leaving do in Scotland. I didn’t even have time to arrange any temporary accommodation, so we lived out of our car for our first … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accommodation, campus, car, colleagues, consumption, department, estimate, finances, food, happy, job, leaving, ledger, meal, meals, move, Paris, salary, spend, spending, student, students, TPR, tutorial, tutorials | Leave a comment

Rousse’s Gay Gordons respite

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The only way to escape the student with multiple project proposals – all of which were ridiculous – was to grab BR for a quick Gay Gordons along the corridor.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Gay Gordons, project, proposal, proposals, student | 1 Comment

Beware imitations: the case of the “handwoven” oriental silk rug (Rousse)

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I was in a flap. My parents would be arriving for breakfast in 15 minutes. We had no food in the house, and our silk rug from Singapore was filthy from the ashes that had spilled onto it from our … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ash, ashes, bacon, breakfast, carpet, china, clean, cleaning, cod, decipher, dirt, eggs, fake, fire, flap, food. filth, freezer, gas, hoover, hoovering, imitation, panic, print, printing, real effect, rug, silk, Singapore, sofa, Sweden, Tesco, text, TPR, vacuum, vacuuming | Leave a comment

REF submission blunder paves path to BBC2 science career (Rousse)

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Dreamaticus

In the closing session of the Finnish conference GW called the speakers on stage one by one to present them all with small thank you gifts. Inside my parcel I found a khaki green cotton skirt and four types of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BBC2, bead, beads, bubble gum, carrot, chain, combat, compliment, conference, cotton, disappearance, documentary, e-mail, family, Finland, Finnish, garnet, garnets, GCSE, gift, gifts, gold, home, jamboree, Orange, panel, parcel, pendant, PhD, pink, present, presenter, presents, REF2014, rhomboid, rhomboids, science, sea, set, shell, sister, skirt, speaker, speakers, stage, TPR, trousers, UCL, University College London, verdigris, white | Leave a comment

Rolf Harris mon amour (Belle)

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Rolf Harris was my new boyfriend! For him it had been a coup de foudre which he described in interviews with tabloid journalists. I was now the object of derision and loathing. After all, Rolf had left behind his wife … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boyfriend, council estate, etching, Rolf Harris, wife, window, working class | Leave a comment

Rachel wins Ross back – again (Rousse)

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My name is Rachel Green. You may remember me and my friends from a television documentary broadcast 1994-2004. We don’t see each other so often now – perhaps about once a month. Monica and Chandler are still married, have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged business, Chandler Bing, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, finance, flirt, flirting, Friends, hair, inspector, Jennifer Aniston, Joey, Joey Tribbiani, make-up, makeup, Manhattan, Matt LeBlanc, Matt Perry, Monica Geller, nails, New York, New York University, Rachel, Rachel Green, Rachel Greene, Ross, Ross Geller, school, schools, teach, teaching, trainers | Leave a comment

Menu bingo for those in the know on the Isle of Lewis (Rousse)

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The Isle of Lewis guest house had gone up-market. Its pink laminated menus listed sophisticated seafood dishes. Still RG couldn’t resist a joke. If you looked carefully at the text you could find the names of his regular guests hidden … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bingo, guest house, guests, Isle of Lewis, joke, menu, menus, seafood, text | Leave a comment

A cat-assisted attempt to avoid divorce (Rousse)

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Dreamaticus

There was only one way that I would find time to do my own research ever again: to register for a second PhD. I considered several options. I could return to the University of Birmingham where I had studied as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged African, Annandale Street, attempt, badge, badges, Birmingham, Birmingham University, boyfriend, cat, Claremont Crescent, dance, dancing, director, divorce, door, doorbell, dress, East Claremont Street, Ediburgh, ex-husband, eyes, garden, home, husband, identity, initials, lecturer, lights, marking, metal, Newcastle University, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University, parent, parents, PhD, railings, reconciliation, research, TPR, university, University of Birmingham, University of Newcastle, University of Oxford, wall | Leave a comment