Category Archives: Uncategorized

Otters in the wild (Rousse)

I waited with a couple who had travelled all the way from the most southerly tip of Ireland to join the wildlife photography course. It was good to have their company, but where was our coach? When we heard that … Continue reading

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Removal regrets (Rousse)

A woman struck up a conversation with me as I tried to fix a water bottle to my bike. I asked her if she lived in the nearby crescent. ‘If only’, she replied ‘I would love to be able to … Continue reading

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Bitch confronts idiot (Rousse)

The renovations of the main building on the Corstorphine campus of Queen Margaret College rendered it almost unrecognisable. Gone, for example, was the old refectory, replaced with small takeaway outlets scattered around the campus. I wondered what had become of … Continue reading

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Dinner for the dead and alive (Rousse)

They were all there – family members dead and alive at my maternal grandmother’s house: my uncle who had emigrated to Australia in the 1970s was on the lawn in the back garden with his younger daughter, who was photographing … Continue reading

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Sir Paul McCartney pub quiz dunce (Rousse)

Sir Paul McCartney was confused. ‘I don’t recognise the pale yellow album cover’, he said, ‘But since we’re all photographed on the front and I’m definitely the lead singer on that track, I suppose that this must be a Beatles … Continue reading

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A £5 million lottery win (Rousse)

LM and her husband C won £5 million on the UK lottery. However, there was no way that anyone you would ever have known this. They lived very modestly in their small house, and continued to go to work as … Continue reading

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Police raid results in broken milk jug, broken heart (Belle)

I ran down the stairs from the top bedroom to make C a cup of tea and spotted two dark figures looming outside the glass front door. When I opened the door two police officers, drenched from the rain, angrily … Continue reading

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Timber frost danger (Rousse)

My entire immediate family crowded into the garden shed for my brother-in-law to pass judgement on the tiny defect in the wood above the door frame. ‘Bad news, I’m afraid’, he said. ‘This is frost damage. Your shed is falling … Continue reading

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Cyclops cow (Rousse)

I’d never met such a friendly cow before. She was a brown and white Jersey with enormous long-lashed eyes, sporting the softest strokeable cattle coat. Her willingness to be petted was quite extraordinary – as was the her third eye, … Continue reading

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Fun and games with trains (Rousse)

I needed to reach Liverpool by 13:15 for a meeting. At 12:30 I jumped on the first train that I saw at Edinburgh’s Waverley Station, assuming that it was a London service that called at Leeds. I was right in … Continue reading

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