Carey Mulligan singalike goes incognito in Paisley (Rousse)

AM and CO were reputed to duet together. The former was particularly popular: it was said that she sang as beautifully as Carey Mulligan.

On Paisley Gala Day, however, AM refused to sing. She preferred to watch the parade through the streets incognito from the sidelines. In contrast my university pal JS, on holiday in Scotland with her family, was determined to join in the fun. She ducked under a pink tarpaulin at the head of the parade and proudly marched along the route next to the local hairdresser.

Meanwhile I dug into the box of cereal that I had found in KT’s rucksack. I picked out lumps of Flake chocolate from amongst the oats and raisins and popped them into my mouth. This really annoyed KT.

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Westeros Weapons School (Belle)

I had been invited to attend training at Westeros Weapons School.

Delegates were seated in the conference room while the teacher explained that they were to be trained in the use of percussion instruments for warfare. One man in particularly attracted my attention as he savagely shook a small plastic water bottle full of pebbles.

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Gym living inconveniences (Rousse)

Since I had taken up residence in a guest room of the Virgin Active gym at Edinburgh’s Omni Centre, it had become much more difficult to organise my morning run with TPR (who lived in Leith).

Added to this was the problem of all the other distractions in my life, such as a pile of clothes spilling out of a huge Oxfam bag, and the traveller family that kept trying to move in with me.

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Burgundy fashion for the blind (Rousse)

I explained that our friends always dressed in identical burgundy outfits because this made it easy to (a) ensure colour coordination and (b) select clothes for the wash – not least because they were both blind.

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Edinburgh’s worst driver causes yet another accident (Rousse)

As Edinburgh’s worst driver, I was in trouble again. I drove through a red light at the junction of Lothian Road and Princes Street, taking out a pedestrian. While she lay injured and unconscious on the tarmac, someone else called an ambulance and I flirted with a young vet.

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Ten year-old genius develops new app to measure distance (Rousse)

My new best friend was MS, the ten year-old daughter of an external work colleague who was on business in town.

MS very proudly showed off a new app that she had just developed. It was an electric ruler that could measure distances on maps on-screen.

Meanwhile I was becoming increasingly concerned that I had caught a virus from PL. The glands in my throat were so swollen that my cheeks and chin had changed shape completely and I now sported three pointy angles at the bottom of my face.

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An invitation to a secret Hebridean bolt-hole (Rousse)

GJ ran past ED, barely stopping to give her a high five. When he reached me I expected the same. However, it turned out that I was worthy of a greater prize: a kiss on the lips and an invitation to his secret bolt-hole on the Isle of Skye on 27th July 2014 (which, unfortunately, I could not make).

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Advice from a pale cyclist (Rousse)

I completed the last hundred metres of my morning run and turned the corner into our street. There I found SL with her back against our railings, and her hands clinging onto the handlebars of her red bike.

“I think that you’re overdoing it” she said to me in a weak whisper.

I looked at her pale face and wondered whether it was really she who needed to take it easy. TPR then kissed her goodbye, and she set off on her bike back up the hill and home again.

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A departure from the running routine (Rousse)

As we served them their porridge for breakfast, we excused my cousins B and JW and their friends C and SW from the daily morning run.

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