Rousse is leading lady

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Dreamaticus

I played the lead role in a new movie about a female swindler. It would have helped had the director provided a script for my part. I just made up my lines as I went along.

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

Bi-plane on the Meadows, Edinburgh (Rousse)

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Dreamaticus

MW told me that she had a vehicle that would get across Edinburgh at top speed: a bi-plane. I jumped aboard for a terrifying low-level flight between the cherry trees on Jawbone Walk.

On landing at the foot of Middle Meadow Walk, MW introduced me first to her grandparents, then to her father John. The latter requested that I call him ‘Daddy’ – just like everybody else.

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

Ian Rankin lends a hand to highland housewarming party (Rousse)

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Dreamaticus

Ian Rankin was amongst the guests invited by JS to view her new highland holiday home. In the vast sitting room he showed me a collection of cheap, mass produced porcelain deer figurines. He explained that these ornaments were very popular with the tourists who rent this type of cottage.

Next I sat on the sofa between two academics, the pair evidently from the University of Edinburgh. They rudely talked over me, making no effort at all to bring me into the conversation, even though I was just as qualified as they were to give an opinion on the red mohair cardigan under discussion. Indeed, since the woman wearing it was the same size and colouring as me, I was an ideal person to answer the key question: should a redhead wear red?

Feeling unwelcome, I sloped home to return to my work.

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

Stirling to Edinburgh train services slashed (Rousse)

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Dreamaticus

I met ECM at Waverley station. From there we caught the train to a destination that ECM had been desperate to visit for decades.

Unfortunately Stirling was a great disappointment, so after a quick look at the dowdy main street, we turned around and returned to the railway station to catch the next train back to Edinburgh.

‘That will be £2700, and the next train is in 32 hours’ said the woman at the other side of the counter when we came to pay for our return tickets.

We had heard on the news all about inflation and limited rail services due to train strikes, but this was unbelievable. We could at least challenge the cost and ask if there was a cheaper way to travel to Scotland’s capital city.

The counter assistant rifled through a file of old orange card tickets and pulled out two.

‘This one is an unused ticket that somebody returned to us. That will do for one of you. This other one is a child’s ticket, but I’ll just rub out the word ‘pupil’ pencilled on the back, and that should do as your second one. You can have them free of charge.’

Now all we had to do was find a decent hotel to use as our waiting room until the arrival of the next train south.

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

Curry versus keynote (Rousse)

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Dreamaticus

There was barely half an hour before the opening keynote speech and I still hadn’t finished preparing the chicken curry that I had promised for dinner for day 2 of the conference. As soon as the sessions started, I would have no time for anything other than attending and participating in the lectures, panels, and workshops.

There was only one thing for it: to leave the diced meat to fry in the pan on a low heat and hope that another member of my family would finish cooking the dish for me. The more urgent priority was to reach the conference venue next to Edinburgh’s Waverley station as fast as possible. I took up my father’s offer to drive me there in the white Volvo.

We left the car in a free parking space outside the hospital, then I dashed into the lecture theatre just as the first keynote speaker took the stage. It was rather embarrassing that members of the audience spoke over him, including my colleague JB, loudly extolling the virtues of doctoral research in an Indian accent.

I decided that there were perhaps time, after all, to return home and complete the cooking. However, this plan came to nothing when I found that the car had been clamped and my father was arrested. His crime was to have left the Volvo in a space reserved for high priority emergency vehicles.

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

Suing CalMac for ruining ‘holiday of a lifetime’ (Rousse)

Posted on August 21, 2022 by Dreamaticus

We disembarked the CalMac ferry in Stornoway and stood on the dock to wait for the staff to bring our bikes up from the car deck. It soon became evident that the bikes were no longer stowed below. Eventually we discovered that they had been thrown overboard into the sea, just as the boat came into port.

Some way along the coast, we saw random bike frames and wheels tossing about in the waves. We waded into the water to search for our own bikes, but they were nowhere to be seen. Instead, I picked up a 3-gear girl’s bike from the 1970s. This would have to do for the time being.

TPR also found a temporary steed. He rushed back to Stornoway to hire a top maritime lawyer. We would sue Calmac for ruining our ‘holiday of a lifetume’.

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

Hanged for minor misdemeanours (Rousse)

Posted on August 13, 2022 by Dreamaticus

In my new life, in my new town, I immersed myself in voluntary activities. First, I helped out at the public library, and then served on the school board.

My main priority, however, was to outlaw the archaic practice of punishing youngsters for their minor dismeanours by public hanging.

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

Pyjama party for the blue-haired (Rousse)

Posted on August 12, 2022 by Dreamaticus

While her husband K was out of town with the children, DTJ hosted a party for her girlfriends.

I felt very out of place in my cotton dress amongst the blue-haired, pyjama-clad youngsters.

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

Monkey in a motorhome (Rousse)

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Dreamaticus

With my sister at the wheel of our motorhome, we were driving south through France to the drop off my niece A and her partner D at a ski resort. It was a wonder that we weren’t killed en route. My sister insisted on driving on the left hand side of the road, forcing the oncoming vehicles to cross the carriageway to avoid colliding with us.

Unfortunately the tiny 4-inch high monkey (seated with us on the back seat) didn’t survive the journey. Somehow it got trapped under one of the other passengers. The first sign of its distress was bleeding from the eyes. Soon afterwards its entire body disintegrated into a bloody blob.

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

John Peel, the Cure, and the B-52s (Rousse)

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Dreamaticus

John Peel and I discussed interesting beats in pop songs. I moved the conversation on to two of my favourites: A forest by The Cure, and Planet Claire by the B-52s.

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