Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hull is a hanky panky hotspot (Rousse)

TPR’s muscles were a source of fascination for the slim, dark teenager on the boat. I left them sitting together on the bench on the deck as we came into dock in Newcastle. When we arrived TPR looked a bit … Continue reading

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The new Saturday night star (Rousse)

Since her operation AP had gone from strength to strength. Her singing career was really taking off these days, especially now that she had secured the prime-time Saturday night slot on BBC1.

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A useless sabbatical, a stray student, and a delicious brand of cell phone (Rousse)

My boss pass me a typed sheet of paper. This stated that I had been granted a sabbatical between 29th April and 31st August 2015. It was already the end of June. What use was this to me? Then the … Continue reading

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The most famous family in Hastings (Rousse)

We were all guests of BC, her husband G, 11 year-old Z and toddler N. Their house near Hastings was tiny: B and G gave up their bedroom so that TPR could have their bed. (They would sleep on the … Continue reading

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Inconveniences of hotel life (Rousse)

TPR and I were living in a hotel. This was not as glamorous as it sounded. For example, although the hotel had a pool, it was unheated and outdoors, and whenever I used it I risked drowning. It was also … Continue reading

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A superhero in a silk top (Rousse)

The knife sliced through DT’s blue and black silk top and into her skin – but I knew that she would survive because we’d been through this before. Cowering on the bed in the corner, I predicted correctly DT would … Continue reading

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A menagerie and a monument (Rousse)

My mother had done a great job with the garden. All the pets were happily installed in large runs, the chickens loved their coop, and the hedgehogs were so settled that they forgot their shyness. The only (very minor) problem … Continue reading

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Hotel blues (Rousse)

I’d been away from home for over a week and was thoroughly sick of life in a hotel room. What made it worse was that the hotel was within a huge American-style shopping mall, so it felt like I never … Continue reading

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Hebridean pursuits: cycling, flying, and wildlife (Rousse)

We met the French cyclists when they came off the North Uist ferry. Exhausted and soaked, they were not happy tourists. We agreed that the Hebridean weather was not the easiest and, as illustration, I demonstrated how I could launch … Continue reading

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Project crisis ‘cured’ with spray-on white hair and wedding invitations (Rousse)

Our work was barely progressing from one meeting to the next so we decided that the only course of action open to us now was to bring the project to an end and cut our losses. One of the team … Continue reading

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