Tag Archives: banner

Big changes at the University of Birmingham (Rousse)

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Dreamaticus

Childhood friends SB and KH met me in Birmingham to scope out venues for next year’s university reunion. We were in for a shock when we reached the University of Birmingham campus. The French department was completely unrecognisable. The corridors … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banner, Birmingham, Chinese, corridor, French, hall, lecture, navigation, reception, reunion, student, university, venue | Leave a comment

The ginger squatters of Benfica (Belle)

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Dreamaticus

I walked out of Goldsmiths College to take a walk. I bumped into a group of local red-haired squatters. They were riding red horses that were being led by red dogs. I stopped to chat with the group. They told … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banner, Benfica, dog, football, ginger, Goldsmiths College, horse, London, red hair, squatter | Leave a comment

Free panda performance at Edinburgh zoo (Rousse)

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Dreamaticus

From the sitting room window of our flat we could see the animal performance area at Edinburgh zoo next door. I was excited to watch workmen pasting up a huge panda banner to the right of the main stage. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animal, banner, Edinburgh, flat, panda, performance, preparation, show, stage, window, workmen, zoo | Leave a comment

Salford scheme shames poor drivers (Rousse)

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Dreamaticus

My driving was getting worse. In Salford I scraped our white BMW against the kerb outside a hospital, nearly taking out some nursing staff. Thankfully the car easily transformed into a motorbike. This meant that I could make a quick … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arrest, banner, bike, BMW, carnival, chant, chorus, driver, drivers, driving, engine, fine, getaway, Greater Manchester, hospital, kerb, lorry, motorbike, nurse, offence, offense, officer, police, poor, public, road, roundabout, safety, Salford, scheme, shame, sing, staff, TPR, white | Leave a comment

A pensive lecturer (Rousse)

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Dreamaticus

A banner above the desk displayed the lecturer’s name: ‘Pensive Abbott, now known as KA’. ‘Nobody ever used “Pensive” when I was little’ KA explained. ‘”Penny” was so much nicer.’ We couldn’t understand why KA had a ‘former name’ at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1960s, banner, born, children, desk, husband, lecturer, marriage, marry, name, parents, penny, pensive, wife | Leave a comment

The fish-eating fake vegan (Rousse)

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My office-mate was up to his usual annoying habits, behaving as if he had exclusive use of our shared room. He’d taken my poster off the door and replaced it with a congratulatory banner for his final year class. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banner, bean, class, congratulations, corridor, eat, fake, fish, habit, habits, house, kidney, kidney bean, lock, mackerel, office, office-mate, peas, poster, rice, room, smoked, stew, students, supper, vegan, white | Leave a comment

Tenement opera at the Leith Festival (Rousse)

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Dreamaticus

After the snows melted we gathered with the other commune members to follow the crowd to East Claremont Street. From the windows of two different third floor flats a man and a woman sang a series of opera duets. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banner, crowd, duet, East Claremont Street, Edinburgh, festival, flat, floor, Leith, melt commune, opera, performance, sing, singing, snow, song, Tenement, third, window, windows | Leave a comment

Suicide bombers target ocean liner university campus in Leith – with bonus baby monkey (Rousse)

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Dreamaticus

A huge media campaign grew up around the campus move to an ocean liner moored in Leith Docks. Thousands of visitors were expected to gather for the firework display that followed our open afternoon. I was looking forward to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aeroplane, aircraft, arms, babies, baby, banner, blaze, bomber, bombers, campus, celebrations, classroom, corridor, corridors, crash, death, display, dock, docks, exit, fire, fireball, fireworks, flame, flames, fly-over, flyover, gym, hairy, heat, Leith, liner, military, monkey, ocean, plane, pram, question, son, staircase, staircases, suicide, swim, swimming, visitors, water, window | Leave a comment

JK Rowling’s cot death charity competition and the Scottish slave trade (Rousse)

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I chased my north Northumbrian cousins through the corridors Scooby Doo style as a strategy to keep them entertained while were waiting for the main event. Then the word came that the real fun was about to start. We gathered … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged balloon, banner, blind-fold, cinema, competition, corridors, cousins, crowd, dress, dresses, Duddingston, eighteenth century, Harry Potter, JK Rowling, Leith, loch, prize, rags, rice, rope, Scooby Doo, scroll, ships, slave, slave trade, slaves, stairwell, theme park, uniforms, wig, wigs | Leave a comment

Time-travelling Rousse wins lottery jackpot

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I watched the sequence of events very carefully. To the right of the stone wall a brand new white Sunseeker was being launched into the sea. My attention, however, focused to the left. Here a busy crowd gathered around a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banner, boat, CCTV, coin, crowd, jackpot, key, lottery, millionaire, pool, swimming, swimming pool, time travel, wall | Leave a comment