Category Archives: Uncategorized

Rousse’s new career as a dress-making waitress

It was so thoughtful of my colleague EH – mother of Christmas twins and a waitress like me – to think of giving me a fabric shop gift voucher as a house-warming present so soon after we moved into our … Continue reading

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Distressed baby elephant upstaged by new republic (Rousse)

I stole the enormous slices of carrot cake from the supermarket staff’s Christmas party, then LM and I gorged ourselves in an illicit bedroom picnic. The pretty little red-haired toddler gazed up at the snow-topped range from the car window … Continue reading

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Shh – it’s a secret society (Belle)

The fire station was an attractive modernist building overlooking a river, but the rest of the city was ugly. It was just a badly painted pantomime backdrop. Meanwhile I had inadvertently joined a secret society of librarians and an over-enthusiastic … Continue reading

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Life as an abandoned wife (Rousse)

I made an uncomfortable 47 year-old undergraduate banished to the University of Birmingham to finish my degree, and to do so properly this time around. The youngsters resident at the Manor House gradually became used to my presence, and gladly … Continue reading

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The Extended Shakespeare Company (Belle)

It was the last day of term at my boarding school. The school’s Shakespeare production was stonkingly slow and the class nerd was the most unlikely Romeo. Not only did the play drag on for days, but some liberties had … Continue reading

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Time travel by train and a deadly secret unveiled (Rousse)

Time travel at York railway station was easy-peasy. By crossing from one platform to the other and boarding the north-bound service to Oban I was transported back to circa 1982. This filled me with delight. I could now make a … Continue reading

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Belle keeps it in the family

After a brief fling with a rotund middle-aged man I had ordered from Facebook, I found myself dating his much more appealing son. At some point I was going to have to come clean – but not yet. We were … Continue reading

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Christmas calendar mystery (Rousse)

I whizzed down Castle Street as fast as I could. Even so my bike couldn’t carry me fast enough to reach EF at the junction. As she turned right on to Queen Street she called back cheerily “Thanks for the … Continue reading

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The popular rabbit (Belle)

This was one of the worst library conferences I had ever been to. People were paying more attention to one of the delegates, a friendly ginger fluffy rabbit, than to the speaker. When the conference chair invited the pregnant conference … Continue reading

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Rousse withholds confectionery and debates fun at work

We now deeply regretted offering our services to AC. The ten or so people squeezed into the tiny sitting room did not match my usual audience demographic. I couldn’t ever remember presenting to anyone who hid their face behind a … Continue reading

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