Running clothes for women (Rousse)

BF turned up at the house in a stretchy brown crocheted dress. She’d last worn this garment when delivering a presidential address to a professional body in 2010. Today she thought it was suitable attire for a 06:00am run.

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Coping with Canadian weather and dangerous dogs (Rousse)

We learnt about the extremes of Canadian weather during our family touring holiday. One moment we were watching entire islands being swept along an immense broad valley in meltwater floods. The next we were struggling to drive over roads sealed in six inches of ice. Then it was summer again and we found ourselves in the sunshine on a beautiful yellow sandy beach (which my father erroneously claimed was in Pitlochry).

At the end of our trip we needed to return to Toronto Airport to catch our flight home again. However, we had spent so much time in the wilderness of the Rockies that we had lost our bearings completely and were now hopelessly lost. We eventually found a small settlement called Salt where a Scottish woman explained that we were heading in completely the wrong direction.

She seemed keen to keep us on her land. We, however, were desperate to leave. We feared for our lives in the company of her three ferocious Jack Russell terriers. Baring their teeth, they looked ready to gobble up the entire family – just as soon as they worked out how jump up through the windows and into our car.

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A failed attempt to win over the Winklevoss twins (Rousse)

I left a half-eaten Snickers bar on the front seat of the gleaming black Range Rover that belonged to the Winklevoss twins. This, I hoped, would give me an excuse to meet them for a second time when I went back to collect it.

Unfortunately when I made my return trip neither Cameron nor Tyler recognised me. Nor did they show any interest whatsoever in finding out who I was.

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Government treats UK rail infrastructure “like toy train set” (Rousse)

No wonder the railway system was in such disarray. Every time that a train needed to switch tracks, a team of men was called to lift the long lumps of metal into place by hand. The government was treating its national rail infrastructure like a toy train set.

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A post-REF ghost train ride around Edinburgh (Rousse)

I picked the DVD up from reception at Queen Margaret University’s Corstorphine campus and carried it down to the staff room. I needed someone to help me proof the multimedia excerpts that had been added to my most recent publication in the Journal of Information Science.

KC volunteered to help. The job done, we made to leave when one of the professors of nursing approached us. She wanted to congratulate me on the list of achievements that I had recently submitted to the REF panel.

“Nobody realised how hard-working you were until we saw your list of external commitments”, she said.

KC and I then left to board the ghost train back into town. It travelled through dank tunnels that were crammed with wailing bodies. From the trackside random limbs reached out to the open carriages to grope at whatever, and whoever, they could reach.

When we were back in the light again I noticed that one of our fellow passengers was A G-K from university. A terrible mother, she had subjected her two children to the terrifying trip. However, they didn’t seem too bothered. This was probably because they were both made from Lego.

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Sun protection – Australian style (Rousse)

I located my Uncle J soon after I arrived in Australia. He was busy pulling up plants in the part of the bush that he called his garden.

“Get indoors!” he shouted in alarm, chasing after me.

I ran into the house. I’d never seen it before and was very surprised to discover that it was a beautiful modern building, sparsely furnished in a stylish minimalist fashion, with tasteful pieces of art dotted along the walls. This was so unlike my family. My aunt was there too. She kissed me on both cheeks, delighted that I had come to visit.

Holding up what looked like a 5 litre tin of paint, Uncle J was now able to explain the urgent need to get inside.

“You are too pale to wander around in the open in Australia. If you want the freedom to do this, we must first ensure that you are coated in Australian fake tan sunblock. I think we’ll have just enough in this tin. Please could you pass me that paintbrush?”

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A failed smoker catches the ghost bus (Rousse)

JS gave me £1.50 and I waited for the bus. I missed two number 11s because I wasn’t paying attention.

Then I attempted to smoke a cigarette in the bus shelter, but the filter was broken and I didn’t know what to do about it. I also felt terribly guilty for the hard time that I had given my friends who smoke.

Eventually another bus turned up, I jumped on board, and listened to ghost stories related by another passenger on the journey into town.

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Woman in a pink nightdress “haunts” modern Georgian house (Rousse)

At first I thought that this “modern Georgian house” was pretty dull. Of course the drab paintwork and the tall presses on the ground floor were in keeping with the Georgian ideal, but you could find this kind of decoration anywhere on a new housing estate.

It was not until you wandered upstairs that you discovered the magnificence of the house. Beyond a cluttered family area on the landing filled with books (including The cookery year from Reader’s Digest) was a vast ballroom. This then opened on to a huge conservatory the size of the palm house at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.

But what was SL doing here? And why was she running around in a pink nightie?

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The secret bride (Rousse)

Everyone loved miniature party girl NP. Tonight our tiny friend was wearing an elegant cream satin dress studded with sparkling sequins. One of the men carried her on his shoulders so everyone could see how beautiful she looked.

I called up to NP that her outfit would make a fabulous bridal gown. She replied with a knowing wink.

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Giant baby kangaroo paddles in Luskentyre Bay (Rousse)

A, C, S and N proposed a commune holiday on the Isle of Harris later in the year. Since TPR and I were already there, the others tasked us with checking out the various self-catering cottages that A had identified for the trip.

The first “cottage” was a red-roofed rotting wooden shed stuck in the middle of the moorland. I assured TPR that if this was the kind of accommodation that they wanted to book, we would flee to A and B’s bed and breakfast in Northton.

We drove along the coast to the next candidate cottage. I watched the seals bobbing about in the water, wondering if we might also see a whale or two. Instead I was rewarded with the most astonishing sight: a giant baby kangaroo with ears the size of an African elephant was paddling in the shallow water of Luskentyre Bay.

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