Author Archives: Dreamaticus

John Lewis suitcase switch and Tiffany diamond haul (Rousse)

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Dreamaticus

In a flashback to the heady days of dot.com boom TPR and I flew to South Africa for an all-expenses paid incentive holiday in Pretoria. I was looking forward to comparing the twenty-first century experience of corporate excess with that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 5 star, African, animals, baggage, cache, carry-on, cluprits, coach, computing, crown, culprit, diamond, documentation, dot.com, Facebook, family, father, fly, flying, forms, haul, head, holiday, hotel, immigration, incentive, iPad, iPhone, jewellery, John Lewis, Kindle airport, MacAir, medieval, Mills and Boon, PhD, resort, ring, rings, silver, South Africa, steal, stolen, suitcase, thieves, Tiffany, TPR, treasure, trove, Twitter, wildlife | Leave a comment

Babies, text mining and Any Questions (Rousse)

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Dreamaticus

All the middle-aged married women at the conference looked so much bigger than they did this time last year. Puzzled at first, I eventually worked out that all of them were either about to give birth, or had recently welcomed … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Any Questions, babies, baby, BBC, bed, birth, campus, conference, downstairs, guest, Indian, knowledge management, lecture, married, middle-age, middle-aged, module, motherhood, pregnant, producers, Radio 4, robes, seat, stage, students, teaching, text mining, turban, weight gain, wives, women | Leave a comment

Holy Island Heights (Rousse)

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Just short of the Holy Island causeway, TPR steered the tandem over to the right. Perhaps behind these dunes we would finally discover the most beautiful beach in Northumberland? The sight before us from atop the marram grass was, indeed, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach, camera, causeway, cycling, desert, dune, dunes, Holy Island, Inner Mongolia, Lindisfarne, Mongolia, Northumberland, sand, shore, shoreline, tandem, Tengger Desert, TPR | Leave a comment

Housework versus helicopter trip? A courtier of Charles II helps Rousse decide

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Dreamaticus

While TPR enjoyed an early morning run, I promised to stay at home to clear up the chaos of our flat following the previous night’s party. However, I was interrupted before I’d even started. A courtier of Charles II dressed … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acting, actor, airstrip, building, Charles II, chessmen, courtier, Disney, Disneyland, field, flat, football, Harry Potter, helicopter, labouring, mess, message, party, road, run, sfx, silk, silks, special effects, tarmac, transit van, transit vans, treat, windmills, yellow | Leave a comment

Innovative scheme helps students clear debt (Rousse)

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Everything changed when I accepted the new role at work. Now my tiny office was crammed full of students and admin staff. It didn’t help that everyone brought along their own favourite items of furniture to help make the room … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged admin, afford, ball, ball gown, barley, barley-legged, beach, beard, blue, bus, buses, debt, debts, dress, faint, fee, fees, franchise, furniture, gown, grant, grants, hall, hide, lecture, legged, library, loan, loans, Lothian, marketing, New York, noise, oak, office, patrol, patrols, pebble, photo, photograph, photographs, photos, polytechnic, reading room, reading rooms, repository, robe, robes, satin, scheme, screen, silent, sky-blue, space, staff, student, students, study, table, trip, work | Leave a comment

How to get to Paris by car (Rousse)

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I dyed my hair dark grey for KM’s parents’ golden wedding anniversary party. From a distance it looked like my head was armoured in a heavy steel helmet. Regretting my mistake, I couldn’t decide whether I should wait for this … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged anniversary, border, car, charm, death, documents, driving, dye, father, France, French, golden, haor, helmet, immigration, lane, lanes, officer, Paris, party, shipping, skinhead, tanker, tankers, TPR, wedding | Leave a comment

JK Rowling extends her estate (Rousse)

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The best of friends, JK Rowling and I shared a Victorian villa by the seaside. She lived on the top floor, and my flat was below. One morning I looked out of the window and noticed a series of white-painted … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach, beach-front, beachfront, best friend, best friends, canister, dune, dunes, estate, film, flat, friend, Friends, JK Rowling, lawn, mobile, relaxing, sand, sand dune, sand dunes, sculpture, sea, seaside, shore, stakes, Victorian, villa, white, wooden | Leave a comment

A footballer and a phone (Rousse)

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Even though he was brought up and lived in Cardiff, my cousin played soccer as an England international. I was so proud of him in his white kit. How strange it was, however, that TPR admired my cousin’s hairstyle of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged athletic, athleticism, blond, boots, cell, charity, charity shop, china, England, football, footballer, hair, hairstyle, husband, kit, mobile, phone, shop, soccer, straight, TPR | Leave a comment

Bear attacks party-goer (Rousse)

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I counted myself extremely lucky to have secured a place at the Christmas party with my London colleagues. The animated mix of nationalities and races at our table ate, drank, talked and partied until 05:45. We only took one break. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arm, attacks, Auld Lang Syne, bear, bears. attack, break, Christmas, decoration, decorations, drinking, eating, field, grass, kiss, light, London, nationalities, nationality, party, partying, pepper, peppers, pet, race, races, rot, run, running, silver, sleep, snog, talking | Leave a comment

Good turns in Paris and Edinburgh (Rousse)

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Dreamaticus

When I came across FD looking lost at the top of Boulevard Raspail she admitted that she had never visited Paris before. I offered to show her the sights. We headed north towards to the river, the Louvre our first … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bank Edinburgh, Boulevard Raspail, carrot, chef, cooking, driving, France, grey, lady, liquidising, Louvre, office, Paris, river, soup, tomato, Twitter | Leave a comment