Category Archives: Uncategorized

Weekends do not start on Thursday afternoons: official (Rousse)

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Dreamaticus

RK hesitated when I said that I would help the French student put his poster up on the wall at the back of the classroom. He asked if I would do this later. For the moment he wanted no distractions … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged absence, absences, attention, class, classroom, day, days, distraction, distractions, explanation, French, Friday, poster, student, students, Thursday, week, weekend | Leave a comment

Antique shopping revelation (Belle)

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Dreamaticus

While antique shopping in Blackheath, I found myself drawn to a wooden display cabinet. Inside I saw an incomplete collection of ‘London Borough medals’. I had no idea such things existed, or that Lewisham’s emblem was a ‘deer’s leap’.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged antique shop, antiques, Blackheath, deer, deer's leap, London, London Borough of Lewisham, medal | Leave a comment

Lecturer in a tutu (Rousse)

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I was busy in the kitchen admiring my glug jug collection when KT called the meeting. I reckoned that I should wear more than a pair of lacy black knickers in the company of my colleagues so I rushed through … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, bath, bedroom, black, colleague, colleagues, dean, dressed, foreign, glug, gurgle, hair, hygiene, jug, jugs, knickers, lace, lacy, lecturer, netting, pants, pink, room-mate, room-mates, shower, Smiths, stick, sticks, tutu, vicar | Leave a comment

Danish Marmite verdict – not as bad as you might expect (Rousse)

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Dreamaticus

While top fashion designer MSB prepared for the visit of AF, my sister J and I headed for the Pentland Hills. We timed our visit to watch the release of geese at the start of the shooting season. We didn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bird, birds, Dane, Danish, deluge, Denmark, designer, enthusiasm, fashion, food, geese, goose, guano, hills, Marmite, Pentland, Pentland Hills, poo, shooting, sister, sky, snack, sulk, sulky, teenage, teenager, toast, verdict | Leave a comment

Winning ways with the language of love (Rousse)

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I was well aware that for over a decade my colleague A dismissed my work as completely trivial. It was well-known that he had no respect for me whatsoever. Then one day we happened to be assigned to the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged colleague, France, French, intern, internship, language, languages, love, placement, respect, talent, way, ways, win, winning, work | Leave a comment

Rousse avoids a rubbish job

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Back in 1982 I was doing all I could to avoid what I considered an inappropriate task for female first year undergraduates: picking up litter. They said that the boys would be there too, but I didn’t believe it. I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1982, Birmingham University, boys, campus, carriage, class, classes, collection, female, floor, girls, lift, litter, lying, Muirhead Tower, rail, shop assistant, shopping, shopping centre, station, student, students, train, undergraduate, undergraduates, uniform, uniforms, University of Birmingham, waiter, waiters | Leave a comment

Teenage bedroom furniture choices (Rousse)

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Dreamaticus

LF and TF both glanced at me sitting on the futon. “No, that’s it. We’re definitely not getting him one of those“, said L. This declaration came at the end of a long debate on bedroom furniture choices for teenage … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, bedroll, beds, boy, boys, bunk, double, floor, friend, furniture, futon, roll, sofa, sofabed, son, teenage, teenagers, woodwork | Leave a comment

Bad behaviour and an F1 fireball kill conversation (Rousse)

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The conference launch event was a Victorian-Edwardian music hall concert in the style of BBC’s Good old days show. I thought this a bit OTT for a librarians’ conference, but this was the US, and it did make a change … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alumni, alumnus, America, BBC, Berkeley, Birmingham University, California, car, colleagues, conference, conversation, dead, dinner, Edwardian, F1, fire engine, fire engines, flame, flames, flirt, flirting, formula 1, formula one, friend, gate-crash, gatecrash, Good old days, hall, kill, librarian, librarians, Manor, Manor House, Mountain View, music, music hall, news, Oxford, Oxford University, PhD, reunion, San Francisco, school, siren, sirens, Stanford, table, TPR, University of Birmingham, University of Oxford, US, Victorian | Leave a comment

Undomesticated male ineptitude (Rousse)

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Dreamaticus

After years of unheeded complaints about his overworking, BB’s wife followed through her threat to throw him out. With nowhere else to go, he turned up on our doorstep. I always suspected that he would not be terribly domesticated, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged complain, complaint, domestic, domesticated, doorstep, dryer, husband, tumble, undomesticated, wife | Leave a comment

Rousse’s mistaken hot property purchase

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I was looking forward to moving house. We were going back to the north east of England to be within a one hour drive of my parents. It would be wonderful to be surrounded by friendly northerners again. TPR left … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bar, beating, buckle, children, council, door, fields, flat, floor, floors, friend, friendly, garden, hospital, house, job, kids, lady mad, mistake, neighbour, neighbours, north east, northerner, northerners, parent, parents, patent leather, playing field, property, purchase, real estate, rota, running, school, shoe, smoker, smokers, smoking, student, students, TPR, York | Leave a comment