Category Archives: Uncategorized

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

Lord Alan Sugar’s babysitter and JK Rowling’s secret (Rousse)

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Dreamaticus

“Babysitting” was the answer I gave whenever anyone asked what I did for Lord Alan Sugar. He liked to keep me nearby. This usually meant that I could be found hanging around the main door of the office at street … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alan Sugar, artwork, babysitter, babysitting, coin, coins, cover, design, Egypt, geek, geeky, gold, golden, handbag, handbags, Harry Potter, Harvey Nicks, Harvey Nicols, hunt, JK Rowling, job, key, landing, Lord Alan, Lord Alan Sugar, Lord of the Rings, man, manhole, manhole cover, middle-aged, mother, newspaper, office, paper, pocket, pockets, secret, Sir Alan, Sir Alan Sugar, Tolkein, Tolkien, treasure, treasure hunt, trove | Leave a comment

News of Michael Jackson’s death takes time to register back in the 1970s (Rousse)

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I met my new young man back in 1975. He squeezed into the seat next to me on one of the first 125 trains released into the fleet. We agreed to meet the next day beside the cave. He didn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 125, boyfriend, cave, child, death, divorce, e-mail, kid, memo, memos, Michael Jackson, pop, Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Rockin' Robin, secretaries, secretary, time travel, time-traveller, train, trains, wife | Leave a comment

Cambridge conference saves Rousse from North Sea diving job

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Although I agreed with the guest house landlady that her daughter looked a fright, I kept my views to myself. The poor girl obviously considered herself a beauty, yet to most she simply looked fake with her long blonde hair … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged addict, addiction, badge, badges, blonde, boat, Cambridge, canal, college, conference, costumes, delegate, diving, extensions, fake, Grantham, guest house, guesthouse, hair, holiday, job, landlady, libraries, North Sea, qualification, skin, swimming, swimsuits, tablets, tan, tanning, TPR, training, underwater, waterway, waterways | Leave a comment