Category Archives: Uncategorized

But is it art? Ride the purple flume and admire a stick of celery at the Baltic (Rousse)

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I launched myself into the purple flume with no idea of what I would land in or on at the bottom. My eventual destination turned out to be an art exhibition at the Baltic curated by staff from Northumbria University. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, badge, Baltic, bead, celery, chairs, exhibition, flume, Gateshead, glass, green, identity, lecture, name badge, New York, Newcastle, Northumbria, Northumbria University, photography, pin, presentation, purple, space, speaker, star, stick, woman | Leave a comment

A gifted child (Rousse)

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I were very proud of our new baby. Just two days old, she was already crawling at speed on her six long black legs, chattering to herself. The latest additions to her vocabulary included four syllable abstract nouns, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abstract, advanced for her age, advanced for his age, baby, beetle, chatter, child, crawl, dog, gifted, human, legs, noun, nouns, TPR | Leave a comment

Congratulations to the one-legged widower father of the bride (Rousse)

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My one-legged widowed father had done a fabulous job preparing the house for my sister’s wedding. With the help of a woman from the village, he’d set up three mini-dormitories so that all the guests who had decided to stay … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, bride, congratulate, congratulations, daughters, dormitories, dormitory, father, guest, guests, job, one-legged, overnight, sister, stranger, village, wedding, widower, woman | Leave a comment

Questions of etiquette (Rousse)

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Dreamaticus

One friend accidentally copied in a second when he sent an e-mail reply to say that he couldn’t make it to my birthday party – so now she knew that she hadn’t been invited. How could I explain why not … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged birthday, crowd, etiquette, feelings, flat, friend, Friends, hurt, invitation, party, questions, running, shower, showers, unwelcome, welcome | Leave a comment

Nepotism in the workplace (Rousse)

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Dreamaticus

There were three new members of the senior management team: me, RG-J, and a tall tanned blonde rower. The latter, whose name was Karen, turned up to work in a bikini and sunbathed on the lawn outside while the rest … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bad, behavior, behaviour, bikini, blonde, book, fireplace, first, fury, grey, insult, law, lawn, management, men, monograph, Mummy, nepotism, overweight, papers, publications, rage, rower, scream, senior, senior management, shriek, student, tan, tanned, woman, work, workplace | Leave a comment

Selling timeshares in Spain with coconut cakes and coffee (Rousse)

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We knew that KMcM lived and worked in Spain, so it came as no surprise to find her in a hotel ballroom delivering a presentation on timeshares in a long shimmery black backless dress that showed off her tan. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged audience, backless, ballroom, Birmingham University, black, cake, cakes, coconut, coffee, concerns, conversation, dregs. coffee, dress, flask, flasks, hotel, modularisation, module, Spain, Spanish, students, tea, timeshare, timeshares, trolley, university, University of Birmingham, University of Hertfordshire | Leave a comment

A sister’s wedding, smokers and cycling (Rousse)

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We all gathered at my parents’ house in a small town off the M4 corridor for my sister’s wedding. It was a huge affair, largely because the expected guest list of family and friends was supplemented with the names of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acquaintances, bicycle, bike, Blipfoto, bridesmaid, Bristol, child, commuter, corridor, cycling, east, family, Friends, guest, guests, Lucy, M4, parents, pink, Reading, room, seats, sister, smoker, smokers, tables, toddler, wedding, west, woman | Leave a comment

Man loses 9 stone on the fast diet (Rousse)

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I glanced over at my now-slim brother-in-law seated on the dark green sofa at the other side of the room. He looked so different having lost nine stone through intermittent fasting.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 9, alternate day, brother-in-law, diet, fast, fat, green, intermittent, lose, loss, Michael Mosely, Mimi Spencer, nine, room, slim, sofa, stone, weight | Leave a comment

Rousse avoids a run

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I knew that I really ought to go out for a run, but how could I while KR was force-feeding me freshly-baked, soft, melt-in-the-mouth chocolate chip cookies – and the urgency of painting the doorway into my bedroom presented itself … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged activity, avoid, bedroom, chocolate, chocolate chip, chocolate chip cookies, displacement, doorway, feed, feeding, fitness, force-feed, force-feeding, greedy, lazy, run, running | Leave a comment

Toxic sherbet scare (Belle)

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Dreamaticus

It was a beautiful summer’s afternoon on an unknown, and rather quaint, railway platform. I accidentally inhaled the fumes from a sherbet dib-dab and spent the rest of the afternoon convinced I was going to die.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged platform, railway station, sherbet, sherbet dib dab, sweets, trains | Leave a comment