Category Archives: Uncategorized

Rousse’s one night stand

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I had been a faithful wife for almost three decades and now I’d blown it after a brief (but fun) encounter with XY (also married) in the marital bed while TPR was fast asleep along the corridor in the spare … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged asleep, bed, bedroom, card, cards, Christmas, corridor, covers, Craiglockhart, enounter, faithful, futon, guilt, house, infidelity, innocence, invention, married, mouth, night, one night stand, passion, photography, promiscuity, ride, STD, study, taxi, test, town, TPR, wife, work | Leave a comment

A monochrome moon rise, a self-driving car, drunken students, a horse, frozen waves, and a train ride to Edinburgh from South Queensferry (Rousse)

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Dreamaticus

From the back seat of the car I noticed the moon rising in monochrome over Waverley Bridge. “Slow down!” I shouted at TPR, “This is amazing. I need to photograph it!” When he didn’t reply to me I leant over … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged airport, asleep, bridge, bus, buses, car, driverless, drunk, Edinburgh, Forth, frozen, horse, man, monochrome, moon, navigate, photograph, playground, railway, river, roundabout, seat, self-driving, South Queensferry, students, TPR, tracks, Waverley Bridge, waves, wheel, window | Leave a comment

Unshod on a London Routemaster bus (Rousse)

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Dreamaticus

After all the fuss it took to book a vintage Routemaster bus to take us to the railway station for a special trip to London by train, I was very disappointed that only TPR and I turned up. Then there … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bus, house, leave, London, railway, Routemaster, shod, shoes, station, TPR, train, unshod | Leave a comment

The chaos of rapid expansion in UK higher education (Rousse)

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Dreamaticus

The expansion of Queen Margaret University’s portfolio of courses was so rapid that its building could not cope with the additional student numbers. Indeed something had gone terribly wrong during the extra construction work and now many of the institution’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, business, chaos, construction, corridor, corridors, dead-end, dead-ends, English, expansion, hall, higher education, hiss, history, information, joy, knowledge management, language, lecture, lunch, meeting, mess, Queen Margaret University, sources, staircase, staircases, student, students, timetable, tutor | Leave a comment

Dressing up for the doctoral defence (Rousse)

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Each time that I attended a doctoral defence in a Nordic country I was impressed by the trouble that my hosts took to look their best on a student’s big day. On this occasion GW wore a spangled cream and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged collar, cream, defence, doctoral, doctorate, dress, dressing, hiar, host, hosts, label, Next, Nordic, outfit, PhD, sequin, sequins, shift, shoulders, spangle, student, students, tag, wear, white | Leave a comment

The sinister story behind Bye baby bunting (Rousse)

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Dreamaticus

“So, contrary to popular belief Bye baby bunting is not a sweet lullaby, but instead a sinister account of child abuse at the hands of a trusted nursery nurse” concluded the speaker. The looks on my colleagues’ faces said it … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abuse, baby, bag, belief, bunting, bye, bye baby bunting, child, colleagues crazy, conference, inaccurate, nurse, nursery, Paris, story, thesis, weekend, woman | Leave a comment

Angela Lansbury’s handbag and Lady Gaga’s wig (Belle)

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I was asked by my aunt to go to the library and post a letter to Angela Lansbury. When I arrived at the library I found I didn’t need to buy a stamp because Angela Lansbury was in the hallway, fiddling in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Angela Lansbury, handbag, hedge, ladder, Lady Gaga, letter, library, patio, stamp, tattoo, wig | Leave a comment

Contempt for the holiday slacker (Rousse)

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Dreamaticus

SW turned to me and snarled “You need to contact Alan H in the Business School. It’s urgent”. She just couldn’t disguise her contempt for a colleague who had the temerity to take a holiday at Easter.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged business school, colleague, contempt, disguise, Easter, holiday, slacker, snarl | Leave a comment

A party and a parade (Belle)

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I had no idea how KOB, my former assistant, had got the money to move into this gothic castle and host this extravagant party. However, I did know that I had been over-dressed for the afternoon session but was now under-dressed … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Boys' Brigade, castle, dog, dress, gown, graveyard, parade, party | Leave a comment

A diamond-studded solid gold hedgehog dilemma (Rousse)

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Dreamaticus

When I gave away the silk cloak that came free in the cornflakes box to two colleagues in the school office, I never expected it to be the one that contained the diamond-studded solid gold hedgehog. Now I faced a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brekfast, cereal, cloak, cornflakes, diamond, dilemma, free, gold, hedgehog, jewel, office, prize, proceeds, retire, school, silk, staff | Leave a comment