Category Archives: Uncategorized

The smoker of Stockton-on-Tees (Rousse)

By complete coincidence all the people at our end of the table were from Stockton-on-Tees. There was even a spot for my brother-in-law MF, despite his lack of PhD. Of course, ST had sneaked in (as usual). It amused me … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ex-prison officer questions practice of announcing deaths in service (Rousse)

I should never have told the Principal how I abhorred the prison service’s practice of announcing staff deaths. I complained at length about the lack of professionalism in the short e-mails that I received in my former career as a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Everton fan survives road traffic accident only to be mugged by drug addict (Rousse)

I looked out of my kitchen window and spotted PC in his Everton strip heading out for a run across the Meadows. He hesitated when he reached the road, appeared to decide to wait for the car to pass, then … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I was due to sit an exam about ‘Barcelona’ and decided to watch a documentary about the city’s most famous film director. An actor, speaking directly to camera said: “Of course, all this took place when he was going through … Continue reading

Posted on by Dreamaticus | Leave a comment

The naughty teenager’s tattoo (Rousse)

My niece AF and her friend HH returned home from a shopping trip to celebrate A’s sixteenth birthday. When they confessed that they had spent the whole afternoon in a tattoo parlour on Edinburgh’s Cockburn Street we feared the worst. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Game show failure (Belle)

Unsure how I had become a contestant on this ‘women only’ game show, I watched horrified as the other players competed in the first round. They were scaling a horizontal climbing wall while other contestants were firing high velocity water … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Rousse meets Puffing Billy on train spotting commute

Who would have thought the commuting could be so exciting? On a sunny summer’s day TPR and I caught the red steam train from Bath to Bristol. Because we were the second and third people to board, we won the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rousse’s flood-damaged carpet crisis

TPR choked back tears as he gingerly paddled across our flooded sitting room to inspect close-up the damage to our most precious possession. The threads of the Persian rug had disintegrated under the water. It was now puckered with huge … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Disney millionaire discovers rare Morrissey album in Stockton-on-Tees (Rousse)

The mystery Morrissey album that I had been hunting for years finally turned up in the Stockton-on-Tees branch of HMV. The LP record sleeve confirmed that the female vocalist was Jacqui Abbott of the Beautiful South. I was all set … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Last minute wedding outfit disaster and a cosmetic use for dust (Rousse)

We were last-minute additions to EM’s wedding party. EM himself lent me one of his maids for the afternoon and her first task was to rush back to our flat to fetch suitable outfits for us. Meanwhile I wandered around … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment