Shaft jumping in Exeter (Rousse)

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Dreamaticus

SY and I were more adventurous than the others during our holiday. While NY, AH, CS and TPR stayed indoors at the cottage, SY and I drove all the way along the coast and then inland as far as Exeter.

Here we discovered a pub that offered the attraction of a ‘drop’. The idea was that you threw yourself down a small opening down a 100 foot shaft, for fun. There was supposedly no chance of ever injuring yourself because there was a mattress at the very bottom ready to catch your landing.

SY was braver than me and (literally) jumped at the chance of such a thrill. I resisted the temptation, mainly because the launch pad, shaft, and mattress were not properly lined up. I was not prepared to risk serious injury for a few seconds of exhilaration.

Later TPR and AH drove up to Exeter to find us and take us back to the cottage. (I could no longer drive because I had been drinking.) They were both rather annoyed with us for breaking up the party. As ‘punishment’, the other four had set up a consulting firm, but excluded us from it. I couldn’t care less. ‘ECADOC’ was such a silly name for their new company.

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

Greedy goldfish and slapdash workmen ruin house and garden (Rousse)

Posted on May 20, 2023 by Dreamaticus

The house and garden were a complete mess:

  • the house because workmen had damaged the newly wall-papered corridor at the back of the flat;
  • the garden because two enormous, greedy goldfish had taken charge the pond, recently flooded to cover the entire space where once there was lawn.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Courtship rituals for the widowed and widowed-to-be (Rousse)

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Dreamaticus

I met the young red-haired doctor around the time of TPR’s final illness. It was convenient (to me) that he had lost his wife to cancer a year earlier.

Amongst our courtship activities we marked (appalling) Masters dissertations, walked through the lounge of a care home where the residents were watching a ballet on television at full volume, witnessed a bull tumble off a cliff into the sea and drown, and mistook donkeys on the hillside for deer.

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

Self-immolation by train (Rousse)

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Dreamaticus

I eventually found the emergency phone number on the LNER web site.

‘Please come quickly!’ I urged. ‘The passenger seated behind me in Coach E on the 6pm Glasgow to London service is trying to set fire to herself!’

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

To Stornoway by bus via Perth (Rousse)

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Dreamaticus

Finally the crammed bus set off for Stornoway via Perth – but before we’d even reached the outskirts of town, the driver was lost. We ended up in the cul-de-sac of a new housing estate still under construction. This tiny close was not the main road north.

The driver turned the vehicle round and retraced his route back into town. He pulled up at the bus station, then announced that he was leaving us for a few minutes while he checked the way out of town with his colleagues. I asked if there was time for me to use the station toilets and he confirmed that there was.

The bus driver was much quicker taking directions than I was using the facilities. An altercation with a bunch of lads – who thought it amusing to threaten to attack me while I was on the toilet – partly accounted with my late return to the bus’ parking spot. By this time, however, the vehicle had left. I had no hope of reaching Stornoway with the others that day.

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

Waiting for the headmistress (Rousse)

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Dreamaticus

The teachers stood patiently in a long line, creating a human snake that encircled the school hall. I joined them, keen to discover whether or not the attraction out of sight at the head of the queue was worth the wait.

They were all desperate to share at least a couple of words with an ancient, wrinkled, white-haired old lady – their former headmistress. Long retired, she still held herself like the woman-in-charge, and was obviously greatly loved and missed by her former colleagues.

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

2023 sycamore seedling infestation reaches new heights (Rousse)

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Dreamaticus

I climbed high up the red brick wall that separated our back garden from the narrow yard next door. When I reached the top, I complained to myself about the mess of smashed clay plant pots and broken plastic containers strewn across the small platform.

Then I saw the sycamore seedlings. ‘Not here as well!’ I complained.

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

Summer weather in the Outer Hebrides (Rousse)

Posted on May 7, 2023 by Dreamaticus

NP had persuaded her friends to accompany us on a trip to the Outer Hebrides. This was on the basis of my large archive of photographs of the deserted white sandy beaches that fringed the sea of Caribbean blue, sparkling in glorious summer sunshine under vast cloudless skies.

The problem was that this collection of pictures had been assembled over several years, and it was not representative of a typical leaden-sky week in the Western Isles. Worse still, so far this trip had also been marred by a downpour that had started as soon as we disembarked the ferry. It looked like the rain would never stop.

NP gathered her friends together and announced to all that her patience had run out. She was returning to the mainland with anyone else who wanted to give up on this sodden holiday.

I had a feeling that as soon as NP and her followers stepped onto the boat, the sun would come out again.

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

Pork for Jews (Rousse)

Posted on May 7, 2023 by Dreamaticus

Imogen was hopeless as a member of our book/gourmet dining/art and literature travel club. Who else would ever try to argue that a pork stew fitted with the dietary requirements of our Jewish member?

No matter the butchery method, I insisted, pork is always the flesh of a pig.

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

A wedding in the north Lake District (Rousse)

Posted on May 5, 2023 by Dreamaticus

The Cumbrian pub just off the M6 was crammed with wedding guests. They queued everywhere – for their room keys, to use the bathroom, at the dining room door at breakfast etc.

The low bathroom to guest ratio meant that sharing the bath water was expected. I jumped in after TPR, forgetting to take off my T shirt and mint green cardigan.

As I set off back to our bedroom, a wedding guest in the bathroom queue spotted my soaked clothes. It was only when she joked that she hoped that I had another outfit for the wedding ceremony that I realised that I had not packed anything suitable. Another person joined in the conversation with the suggestion that if I was no longer planning to come to the ceremony, perhaps I could babysit her son for the afternoon?

Meanwhile TPR was fielding questions from others about our connection to the bride and groom. He batted them away with replies along the lines of ‘They are friends of my wife’. However, when I checked the names on the blackboard in reception that listed wedding arrangements, I was certain that I had never heard of this Stephen and his fiancée.

In fact, we had only booked this accommodation to give us a break on our journey north away a holiday in the south of England. We had nothing to do with the bridal party, their family or friends. Rather, everyone else had just swept us up into their plans, assuming that our booking was for the same reason as theirs.

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