A bread and chocolate breakfast feast (Rousse)

I woke up in a single bed in a luxurious Perth hotel. SC, in the bed to the left of me, was already awake and watching a BBC nature documentary on her iPad.

There came a knock on the door and in walked two butlers pushing a breakfast trolley laden with bread, Nutella, and Toblerone. My former colleague KM, my cousin S, and my parents followed them.

As I tucked into my dream breakfast KM initiated an ice-breaker game. This required the person who was “it” to run around the room and snog all the others in turn. My mother could not hide her disapproval of this nonsense.

Meanwhile my father picked up a copy of MacUser magazine and started to read it avidly. This was so out of character that KM felt obliged to photograph the scene on her iPad.

When, at last, everyone settled down for breakfast KM told us about internship in Canada in the mid-1990s, then moved on to the theme of teaching roles for librarians. This set SC’s husband off on a rant about undergraduate stats classes.

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An unauthorised accommodation offer (Rousse)

I was heading for BIG TROUBLE. One of my students needed more drawer space in the office so I her a nice spot at the back of the room, then helped her move in without permission.

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A double performance by the Chinese acrobats (Rousse)

The annual student celebration was more professional every year. I watch in awe as Chinese acrobats executed perfect back-flips while flying massive kites above. It was a pity that they could only stay for 15 minutes, but they had another gig at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre that night.

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A Nokia for an iPhone (Rousse)

I was sitting on the main deck of a ferry on my way to the Isle of Lewis when an enormous black rook dive-bombed my handbag and stole my iPhone. I had to survive on an ancient Nokia until my return home.

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A chilly dip in the Minch (Rousse)

There was no ferry to the Isle of Lewis at Christmas so we followed the diversion signs, then jumped in the water and swam the rest of the way there.

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Northern lights go uncaptured (Rousse)

I saw the aurora borealis in the sky, but did not have a camera.

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A level English exam worries (Rousse)

It was only a couple of weeks until the A level English exam, yet I had only read one of the books. What would be more shameful: to cancel the resit, or take it and risk an even lower grade than I previously managed?

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Rousse’s dreadful secret

My colleague, who until very recently had been very friendly, barely acknowledged me when I asked for help in zipping up my multi-coloured chiffon dress. I questioned her coldness.

“You know perfectly well why we are no longer friends”, she replied. “How could you forget what we did with my aunt?”

I hung my head in shame at the memory, then vowed to forget it as soon as I could. Under no circumstances should TPR ever learn this dreadful secret.

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An unwise bed sheet display (Rousse)

Given that this was a networking event for the tech community, NP’s stall looked very amateur. Or perhaps she was being ironic as she pinned the home-decorated bedsheet up behind her table? If so, would anyone get the joke? I certainly wouldn’t contract her to set up my web site.

I spent most of my time at the event hunting for contacts who had connections with the Edinburgh mental health community (RA, CO) so that I could introduce them to JS.

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Maths for engineers (Rousse)

Although I considered it a complete waste of time, I politely ploughed my way through CT’s Maths for engineers workbook. I told her that my favourite problem concerned household energy efficiency, the solution to which was to close the nursery.

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