Category Archives: Uncategorized

Elton John’s red and white singalong at Covent Garden (Rousse)

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Dreamaticus

When the three of us emerged from the tube station I instantly recognised Covent Garden. This was nowhere near High Street Kensington, our planned destination. VAE was confident that she would persuade the station staff to let us back in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged audience, auditorium, band, concert, Covent Garden, crowd, crowds, doorway, Elton John, hall, High Street Kensington, master, palm, palm tree, palm trees, palms, performance, piano, platform, pop, pushchair, red, sign, signs, sing, singalong, stop, superstar, ticket, tickets, toddler, train, tree, trees, truth, tube, wail, white | Leave a comment

Marie Helvin shops for shoes (Rousse)

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Marie Helvin browsed the display of shoes that we had just admired. My sister-in-law SMcC wasn’t going to miss this golden opportunity to speak to the “face of the seventies”. She turned to the former supermodel and struck up a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ankle, boot, boots, conversation, design, display, face of the seventies, grey, heel, Marie Helvin, model, pink, shoe, shoes, shop, shopping, sister-in-law, supermodel | Leave a comment

Peep Show’s Super Hans seeks new recruits to his “Moonys” cult (Rousse)

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Dreamaticus

It was a huge journey from Prague overland, but I eventually made it back to the UK – even though I was minus my pale green fake fur coat, lost by a fat middle-aged woman at a ball in Austria. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Austria, autumn, Balham, ball, bed, beds, Bertie, Birmingham, bus, campus, car, centre, city, coat, concession, cotton, cult, dress, fake, fake fur, footwear, fur, gap, garden, gay, geoologist, ginger, green, High Street Kensington, Kensington, lesbian, lettering, mall, matt king, middle-aged, passenger, passengers, pay, Peep Show, Prague, recruit, recruits, red-haired, redhead, roof, Russell and Bromley, shoes, shop, shopping, station, summer, Super Hans, term, transit van, trip, tube, university, van, warehouse, woman, work | Leave a comment

1980s fashion disaster looks forward to her birthday (Rousse)

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Dreamaticus

On a Tuesday morning in 1984 I wore a stretchy yellow mini skirt over black and grey hooped tights for our first lecture of the day (linguistics). Seated in the lecture theatre with my fellow undergraduates, I pretended that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1984, birthday, disaster, fashion, lecture, Leeds, linguistics, mini, skirt, stretchy, students, surprise, theatre, tights, undergraduates, yellow | Leave a comment

Condensed milk cures homesickness amongst British ex-pats (Rousse)

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Whoever thought that I was qualified to examine a PhD in Latin on the French Enlightenment needed their head examining. Four of us gathered for the viva around a table in an over-heated room at the end of a long … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abroad, autumn, box, British, C18th, card, chair, condensed milk, controls, convener, convenor, cupboard, doctorate, eighteenth century, embassies, embassy, enlightenment, ex-pat, ex-pats, exam, examining, foreign, French, heat, heating, homesickness, Latin, milk, news, PhD, present, room, station, student, study, table, thesis, train, viva, work | Leave a comment

The face at the window (Rousse)

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I was too frightened to open the shutters: through they crack where they met I could still see the blank face of the six year old girl staring back at me. She hadn’t moved in 24 hours. Was she a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blank, corpse, crack, face, ghost, girl, shutters, window | Leave a comment

Changes in the marine environment to suit a red-haired mermaid (Rousse)

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We were coming to the end of an uneventful family holiday. On the morning of our last full day away I bounced out of the big shared family bed and asked my little sister (aged 12) whether she would like … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged attraction, attractions, bed, bedclothes, canvas, comb, combing, cut-out, cut-outs, Edinburgh, environment, family, father, first, hair, holiday, home, MacBook, Marine, mermaid, nude, painting, picture, present, red-haired, rock, scenes, second, semi-naked, sister, sleep, space, underwater, wall, work | Leave a comment

An undesirable neighbour (Rousse)

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We moved back to Birmingham into a large Victorian house on a busy road. Our new next door neighbour wore a long dark beard and kept his hair tied up in a black turban. He told us that he was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged attack, Birmingham, boat, boats, bread, business, canal, car, car park, cook, crane, cranes, dirt, father, filth, house, inherit, Korea, neighbour, neighbourhood, neighbours, office, parking, physical, potatoes, rental, road, roof, turban, undesirable, Victorian | Leave a comment

Kate shops at Topshop (Rousse)

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Catherine Duchess of Cambridge crossed Princes Street from opposite the Balmoral Hotel and headed right towards Princes Mall. “Catherine!” I called. She ignored me. I called again, and then she turned round. She looked so beautiful and elegant in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Balmoral Hotel, Catherine, dress, Duchess of Cambridge, Edinburgh, fleece, Kate Middleton, kisses, Princes Mall, Princes Street, purple, pyjamas, road, shopping, Topshop, wrap | Leave a comment

A love affair in outer space (Rousse)

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I paid VJ a visit to find out if she wanted to travel up to work with me. I was also keen to know whether any of her colleagues could help me find some materials to prepare a tutorial. She … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged affair, band, beard, bleed, box set, charity, colourfast, dye, film, films, love, movie, movies, outer, outer space, plastic, space, technician, tights, tutorial, unemployed, work, yellow | Leave a comment