Foreigner seeks bathroom refuge from summer 2012 Jubilee and Olympic Torch (Rousse) hype

I pushed open the tiny bathroom door. Behind it stood a French student and his racing bike. I frowned at the dirty tyre marks on the white-tiled floor.

“What on earth are you doing here?” I asked.

“I had nowhere else to hide from this dratted Diamond Jubilee”, he replied.

“I think you’ll find that the Jubilee celebrations are now all over”, I informed him. “Don’t you mean the Olympic Torch?”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lovesick “spy” in purple fleece pyjamas goes shopping for an Easter egg at Woolworths (Rousse)

Such was my haste to accept the invitation to work again with JB and his team that I didn’t have time to dress properly for the mission. I hoped that nobody would notice that I was wearing my purple fleece pyjamas.

As JB took us through the next set of instructions he thanked us for our previous efforts, making special mention of my brother’s contribution. This time we would be working in the woods. At one point he almost revealed how the MI6 recruitment and selection processes force candidates to make a decision over whether or not to commit a crime to secure the job. Only those who do so get through to the next stage.

I realised at the break that my affection for JB was becoming a little too obvious to the others so I left the tea room early, pushed past the mass of Japanese tourists lined up in the corridor queuing for a plane, and went shopping for an Easter egg in Woolworths as a surprise for TPR.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kate Humble sets up brewing business (Rousse)

Kate Humble left Springwatch to set up a brewing business. You could hardly miss the news. Her beaming face, framed by a cascade of blond curls, looked out from the front cover of every lifestyle magazine on sale in the corner shop.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bed and breakfast Scandinavian-style (Rousse)

I wished that someone had warned us. TPR, G, J and I had no idea of this strange Scandinavian practice. Now we faced a night in a Swedish bed and breakfast in a shared single bedroom with all the other guests.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cool Christmas presents: introducing Mighty Mouse! (Rousse)

Mighty Mouse screeches over the carpet at top speed. Whenever he hits a piece of furniture he bursts into several pieces revealing all his electronic innards. This is the toy to buy for Christmas 2012!

You can easily reassemble Might Mouse in seconds, and he will happily to set off round the room again. You should also test out his two two special talents. First, he can climb up the leg of anyone wearing a skirt and make his way under all her clothing to pop out again at her neckline. Second, if you place him on a table (preferably from Ikea) he’ll spin over it several times using his dusting feature – just the thing for busy housewives!

At £25 a pop from Argos and Amazon, Mighty Mouse is the coolest Christmas present ever. I’ll be buying one for every member of my family this Christmas.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Office bombshell (Rousse)

It was the hottest news on campus. Just returned from holiday, I handed in my notice. By complete coincidence my boss did exactly the same. She agreed to another three months in post, whilst I would be out of the door within 4 weeks.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Work-out stories for the Apple iPhone (Rousse)

Anyone who prefers to listen to narrative rather than music when working out will be familiar with the problem of media length. At the end of a work-out it’s not so difficult to wait for a three-minute song to come to its conclusion (or indeed cut it off), but for narrative it’s a different matter. Do you get back onto the treadmill for another five minutes, or sacrifice hearing the end of the piece until after your shower?

Researchers are working on a product for narrative – stories, documentaries, plays and the like – that self-edits according to work-out length without compromising the item’s “plot”. This is bound to be a big hit with the Apple iPhone digerati, as well as others whose time to listen varies according to different tasks.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rousse the dog photographer

I finally got my hands on a camera with a decent telephoto lens. I used it to photograph all the dogs – including the big black one with the pink rinse, and the shaggy hound who could transform himself from dog to middle-aged man at will.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Baboon baffling with Belle

While discussing the rapid evolution of a piece of technology, I told my audience that it might be astonishing to us humans today, but that in the future it would “baffle a baboon”.

Horrified by the lack of logic in this statement, I woke myself up.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How not to dress like Siouxsie Sioux (Rousse)

Siouxsie Sioux and I were in trouble, both deemed as unsuitably attired for the event. She wore a black sequinned cocktail dress. I hadn’t even managed to get out my bed clothes. I was still wearing the thin white cotton nightie that my parents gave me for my wedding night.

Before I could do anything about this, however, I had to apologise again to ST for dragging him into my dreams once more. He grimaced at me from beneath a naff 1970s moustache.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment