iPhone mishap leads to extensive train delays (Rousse)

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Dreamaticus

MH guided me through the tube station and on to the platform for the train to St Pancras, and then on to Luton. It was along the way that my iPhone slipped out of my black trouser pocket and plummeted down a lift shaft onto the train track below. The ensuing delays on the line were all my fault.

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“Ali Baba” is main suspect in poisoning case (Rousse)

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The evidence of the prince’s poisoning was right there in front of me: a spent yellow-green serpent lay on the ground. I suspected that the culprit was the foreign man in the red and gold velvet Ali Baba costume.

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HCI conference plays with delegates’ minds (Rousse)

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Should we sue the international HCI conference organisers for playing with our minds?

Our first complaint was that they had provided us with “unstable” catering. The bread sticks on the buffet table at lunch time transformed into croissants at will. You couldn’t be sure that what you added to your plate at the table would be the same item by the time you took your seat in the dining room.

More serious was that none of us could recall any of the sessions from the Wednesday afternoon. To our horror, we eventually worked out that we had all been unwillingly hypnotised.

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Ikea Billy bookcases are perfect for the train (Rousse)

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We lived on a very long train. I kept annoying TPR by identifying narrow gaps in the carriages where we could insert Ikea Billy bookcases.

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Archers catch up (Rousse)

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

After preliminaries about the weather (he thought it poor, we suggested otherwise) our fellow guest on the Isle of Lewis got to the point of why he’d approached us. Did we have a radio, some power cables, and the means for him to catch up with the omnibus edition of the Archers?

Read all our other Archers adventures on Dreamaticus:

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Disappointing work colleagues (Rousse)

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Things were getting really complicated at work. I agreed to meet my colleagues in the pub as soon as I had finished, set off to join them, then realised I had no time, promised to catch up with them later, and then failed to turn up.

Worst of all was N’s faux pas: he took me into the gents to complain about B when B himself was in the next cubicle. To our shame, B heard everything.

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A cholera expert in the family (Rousse)

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My sister S was a world-leading authority on cholera.

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When the Shop of Curiosities is out of stock (Rousse)

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The most curious thing about the Shop of Curiosities was that it held no stock. Once through the door all you found was a series of dark rooms containing a few sticks of old furniture and a couple of well-worn antique rugs.

The lone member of staff sat behind an old-fashioned desk discussing history with my friend VJ’s daughter. I wondered what she could be explaining to someone who already held a first class degree in the subject from Oxford.

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Unanswered questions on the bibliographic control of Twitter lists (Rousse)

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I sat, then stood, at the left hand side of the conference hall, my hand high in the air to indicate that I had a question for the speaker.

So why did the chair of the session ignore me? Was it because I was British and this was an American conference? Even when I managed to grab one of the roving microphones others spoke over me so that my voice couldn’t be heard.

I only wanted to ask about the bibliographic control of Twitter lists.

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Drunk driver escapes notice on the North Yorkshire coast road (Rousse)

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Way over the limit, I weaved a wobbly route in a big saloon car along a single track road next to the sea cliffs in North Yorkshire. How I got away with this, I will never know.

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