On the town with Mark Kermode (Belle)

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Dreamaticus

Our large group left the nightclub and wandered down the strange high street, only to see an old-school Routemaster bus coming over the hill. We ran excitedly to board our night-bus.

I knew we needed to change to another bus, but when I turned around to ask everyone for further details, I was the only person on board. It was that strange time of day. Some people were coming home from a night out, some were starting a new day. But none of them could tell me where to catch the bus. Eventually, I walked into an old building to ask the concierge, only to find her deep in conversation Mark Kermode. My heart leapt with excitement. Too shy to even say hello, I hid in the shadows until he left, pulling his suitcase behind him.

Eventually, I found Parson’s Green tube station, which was built into a mountain, and I was on my way home.

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A dance and a devil in the dark (Rousse)

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Dreamaticus

Although we shared the same living space, our marriage was over, and TPR couldn’t care less if I went home with a strange man after the dance.

My ‘man’ wasn’t that strange, although it had to be said that his dancing style was rather ‘jumpy’. Neal was one of my former students, and I happily took his hand at the end of the evening for the walk back to his place (or so I thought).

It was quite trek up the up to the loch, and I was grateful for my hill training on Edinburgh’s Dublin Street. However, things turned nasty when we came face to face with a fat green and red devil, who chased us all the way back down to the town again in the dark.

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Polar bears take up residence on Scottish coast (Rousse)

Posted on March 19, 2022 by Dreamaticus

As well as the occasional whale, it was now possible to watch polar bear families resident on mini icebergs, just off the East Lothian coast (Scotland).

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Foxy pet (Rousse)

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I brought a live souvenir home from our holiday: a pet fox.

It was so tame that it would roll on to its back to invite us to tickle his tummy, just like a wee ginger dog.

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Otters in the wild (Rousse)

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Dreamaticus

I waited with a couple who had travelled all the way from the most southerly tip of Ireland to join the wildlife photography course. It was good to have their company, but where was our coach?

When we heard that there would be a further delay to the transport, we left our belongings at the bus stop and wandered up the hills for a short walk. Within minutes I was panicking about my expensive camera at the side of the road.

‘Everyone is so wealthy here that nobody will steal it’, said the woman. ‘It will be fine’.

‘But what if I see something that I would like to photograph?’ I protested.

At that point I caught in my peripheral vision the brush of a long heavy tail in the undergrowth at the side of the road. A trio of otters was out to play! They were so close that I was able to whip out my iPhone and take the most astonishing shots of otters in the wild.

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Removal regrets (Rousse)

Posted on March 13, 2022 by Dreamaticus

A woman struck up a conversation with me as I tried to fix a water bottle to my bike. I asked her if she lived in the nearby crescent. ‘If only’, she replied ‘I would love to be able to afford to live there. What about you?’

I couldn’t bring myself to admit that we had once owned a flat a few doors away, then stupidly sold up to move elsewhere.

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Bitch confronts idiot (Rousse)

Posted on March 13, 2022 by Dreamaticus

The renovations of the main building on the Corstorphine campus of Queen Margaret College rendered it almost unrecognisable. Gone, for example, was the old refectory, replaced with small takeaway outlets scattered around the campus.

I wondered what had become of the second set of steps down the main hallway when I heard from behind the words ‘Bitch, bitch, bitch’. I knew that voice, and it didn’t belong here. For too long I had tolerated this idiot’s insults. This had to end.

I told him to sit down and demanded he stop this childish behaviour when – out of the blue – my undergraduate colleagues SH and DS showed up. I was impressed that they had tracked me down, but concerned that they had interrupted me mid-speech. I took them aside to explain the extent to which I loathed this man, and the importance of his removal from my life – forever.

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Dinner for the dead and alive (Rousse)

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Dreamaticus

They were all there – family members dead and alive at my maternal grandmother’s house:

  • my uncle who had emigrated to Australia in the 1970s was on the lawn in the back garden with his younger daughter, who was photographing him in childhood poses
  • my dead aunt and her husband (along long-departed) with their own children, a couple of grandchildren, and even their great grandson, who all surprised us at the back door
  • my (deceased) father, who sprang up from nowhere to take charge of the dining table once everyone was assembled

We all enjoyed a jolly meal of leftover turkey and ham. Goodness how long this food had lingered in the pantry though – Christmas was months ago.

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Sir Paul McCartney pub quiz dunce (Rousse)

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Dreamaticus

Sir Paul McCartney was confused. ‘I don’t recognise the pale yellow album cover’, he said, ‘But since we’re all photographed on the front and I’m definitely the lead singer on that track, I suppose that this must be a Beatles record?’

‘OK, I’ll put that down as our answer’, I replied, regretting that I had ever invited McCartney to join my pub quiz team.

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A £5 million lottery win (Rousse)

Posted on March 8, 2022 by Dreamaticus

LM and her husband C won £5 million on the UK lottery. However, there was no way that anyone you would ever have known this. They lived very modestly in their small house, and continued to go to work as if nothing had happened.

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