Category Archives: Uncategorized

Birmingham’s Grand Canyon (Rousse)

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Dreamaticus

We now lived almost permanently in a tiny house on a rough estate in Birmingham. Even so, we welcomed many visitors, the majority of whom were young men taking breaks along the route of their very long journeys south. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ablutions, bath, beauty, Birmingham, bowl, canyon, dirty, door, estate, geological, geology, girl, girls, Grand Canyon, house, journey, lavatory, men, natural, outstanding, photographs, photos, porcelain, rough, route, significance, south, steps, teenager, teenagers, toilet, visitor, visitors, wash, white | Leave a comment

Recreated photos of a French past (Rousse)

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Dreamaticus

When I first came across the pictures I thought that they were of A and D’s wedding. I had enlargements made so that I could put them into an old-fashioned cloth-covered photograph album to give to my French friends. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged album, babies, baby, blue, bride, children, christening, clothes, dress, enlargements, family, France, French, Friends, groups, hotel, hyacinth, old-fashioned, photographs, photos, picture, pictures, present, recreated, recreating, reunion, silk, twins, wedding | Leave a comment

Christmas tree hazard (Rousse)

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I caught my foot in the trailing fairy lights at the base of the Christmas tree and tumbled across the polished wooden floor of my parents’ mansion.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Christmas, danger, fairy, floor, foot, hazard, health and safety, lights, mansion, parents, Polish, tree, wood | Leave a comment

Tomsk Womble halts divorce proceedings (Rousse)

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Dreamaticus

“Of course, you know that my husband and I couldn’t possibly separate until January 2015 at the very earliest?” asked a friend while we were in the process of discussing the divorce of another. “Why’s that?” I enquired. “In the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2014, 2015, Christmas, December, divorce, friend, halt, happiness, husband, January, long-term, proceedings, sales, separate, stray, stuffed, Tomsk, Womble | Leave a comment

Door-to-door salesman firearms shocker (Rousse)

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Dreamaticus

It was Sunday morning at 10:00am and we were still fast asleep when the doorbell rang. TPR grabbed his dressing gown and made a dash down the hallway to see who was calling. I followed him. Our caller was a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aim, asleep, basket, call, caller, cleaning, crash, display, door, door-to-door, dressing gown, face, fire, firearms, floral, flowers, follow, ground, gun, hallway, hanging, kill, man, mask, morning, product, products, rifle, sales, salesman, scamper, shocker, steps, Sunday, technqiue, threatening, TPR, trigger, wares | Leave a comment

Tricksters grow penguin crop (Rousse)

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Dreamaticus

They played a trick on me. TPR and his gentlemen friends said that they had sown the field with fir tree saplings. They hadn’t. Instead they had planted out a crop of baby penguins.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged baby, crop, field, fir, friend, Friends, gentlemen, grow, penguin, sapling, saplings, sow, TPR, tree, trick, trickers, trickster | Leave a comment

Virgin TV disappointment (Rousse)

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I had two homes in Edinburgh. The first was a basement flat with excellent storage. The other was a bright, airy Newhaven apartment with open views across the Firth of Forth. Whenever we were in one we decided … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged apartment, basement, circle, Edinburgh, elite, estate agent, favour, Firth of Forth, flat, home, homes, idiot, meal, media, Newhaven, professor, professors, project, research, schedules, sell, storage, television, TV, Virgin | Leave a comment

Pudding wine and a patient (Rousse)

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I winced when TPR ordered pudding wine. He was a last-minute guest at our business dinner, and it certainly wasn’t his place to make demands of the waiting staff to meet his expensive personal tastes. I hoped that BR and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bill, blanket, business, care, client, clients, demands, desk, dessert, dinner, expensive, flat, indiscretion, infection, mission, money, office, owe, pale, patient, pay, personal, pudding, puffy, questions, recovery, request, requests, staff, taste, tastes, teaching, team, throat, TPR, transport, waiter, waitress, wine | Leave a comment

Magic tables only a partial solution to University accommodation problems (Rousse)

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I was dismayed over the state of my accommodation. I had been allocated a tiny desk squeezed into the corner of a large computer lab populated by PhD students. My computer and printer took up most of the desk’s surface … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, academics, accommodation, chat, computer, conditions, corner, desk, dismay, furniture, lab, leg, legs, magic, opportunity, partial, PhD, printer surface, problem, problems, solution, space, spare, student, students, table, tables, tea, technician, tray, university, Vice Principal, wall, woe, woes, work | Leave a comment

Handbag thief victim found in possession of illegal currency (Rousse)

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I eventually worked out that my little soft blue shoulder bag had probably been stolen in York, possibly at the railway station or from the train. Wherever this incident took place, it was extremely inconvenient. Months later I was very … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bag, blue, bottle, British, card, cards, coins, commemorative, contents, credit, crown, crowns, currency, danger, European, gang, handbag, illegal, international, key, keys, minted, office, possession, purse, railway, room, school, serrated, silver, soft, staff, station, steal, stolen, thief, top, tops, victim, York | Leave a comment