Tag Archives: book

Preparations for a stag party in Dublin (Rousse)

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I was honoured to have been invited to JG’s stag party in Dublin, along with KA (how did she know JG?), and AG. I congratulated the latter on her weight loss and enduring beauty. I had to tidy my office … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged admin, Africa, beauty, beds, blue, book, curtains, Dublin, ear-rings, loss, mess, office, party, preparation, preparations, read, rules, staff, stag, strike, students, teenagers, tidy, university, weight | Leave a comment

A level English exam worries (Rousse)

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Dreamaticus

It was only a couple of weeks until the A level English exam, yet I had only read one of the books. What would be more shameful: to cancel the resit, or take it and risk an even lower grade … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged A level, book, English, exam, grade, resit | Leave a comment

Christmas in the Highlands – Goldilocks style (Rousse)

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I was fast asleep next to TPR in the main bedroom of our cottage in Perthshire when the noise awoke us at 02:00. Did we see faces at the window, or was the commotion coming from the floor below? We … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accommodation, asleep, £1000, B&B, baby, bacon, bear, bed and breakfast, bedroom, below, book, brave, Christmas, commotion, cook, cottage, downstairs, eat, eggs, episode, faces, family, festive, floor, food, fry-up, Goldilocks, highlands, informant, Jenners, laps, laundry, London, mother, negotiate, owe, Perthshire, pink, rate, room, season, sitting, sleep, son, stay, stocking, stockings, teddy, teddy bear, toy, toys, vacant, village, window | Leave a comment

British Airways’ abandoned brides (Rousse)

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We were just boarding the plane when it became obvious that the passenger in tears was not alone in her predicament. Two women in this queue were the victims of heartless men who thought nothing of dumping their fiancées just … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abandon, alter, board, book, bride, brides, British Airways, broken, cabin, call off, celebration, crew, divorce, dump, engagement, fiancée, fiancées, fiancés, fiance, flight, flip flop, foot, Greece, groom, happy, heartless, island, islands, lank, last minute, line, make-up, marriage, member, men, mutter, passenger, passengers, pay, plane, public, queue, reception, receptions, scream, skirt, smart, staff, tattoo, tattoos, tears, Tenerife, thin, thong, victim, victims, wail, wedding, women | Leave a comment

JK Rowling offers advice to novice novelist (Rousse)

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Dreamaticus

JK Rowling and I had been friends for a long time, so I knew that she wouldn’t mind at all giving me some advice on the first paragraph of my new novel. JK Rowling features on Dreamaticus quite frequently. You’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged advice, book, Friends, JK Rowling, novel, novelist, novist, paragraph | Leave a comment

Antiquarian book collecting for beginners (Rousse)

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Each morning we swam with seals. RI would join us, provided that he had not stayed out too late the night before on “tom cat” excursions. In the afternoons we liked to vary our activities. Today OC took us to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged a catalogue, activities, afternoon, antiquarian, beginners, binding, book, books, British Library, cartoon, charity, Christmas, church, collect, collecting, collection, donation, drawing room, family, highlands, holiday, house, janitor, morning, nineteenth century, parents, photographs, pile, presents, rare, retire, seals. Late, stockings, swim, tarpaulin, theological, theology, Tom cat, treasure, venture, White House | Leave a comment

Nepotism in the workplace (Rousse)

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Dreamaticus

There were three new members of the senior management team: me, RG-J, and a tall tanned blonde rower. The latter, whose name was Karen, turned up to work in a bikini and sunbathed on the lawn outside while the rest … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bad, behavior, behaviour, bikini, blonde, book, fireplace, first, fury, grey, insult, law, lawn, management, men, monograph, Mummy, nepotism, overweight, papers, publications, rage, rower, scream, senior, senior management, shriek, student, tan, tanned, woman, work, workplace | Leave a comment

Fearless kayakers ignore shark in Scottish waters (Rousse)

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Dreamaticus

On the day that we packed the car and crossed back over to the mainland we discovered that X and Y had also spent their summer holiday on the Isle of Mull. It was a pity we hadn’t known earlier … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged attack, book, books, car, chatter, conversation, conversations, death, family, fearless, heart, holiday, husband, journey, kayak, kayakers, mainland, Mull, Orange, orphan, orphans, Scottish, shirt, sisters, suit, talk, TPR, US, waters | Leave a comment

William Morris book design determines undergraduate reading habits (Rousse)

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Now that the degree results had been published it was time to prepare for the graduation ceremony on campus at the University of Birmingham. Of course, TPR would be in the audience as usual, and I invited my nephew P … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arts and crafts, audience, bedroom, Birmingham, book, Borås, campus, ceremony, certificate, certificates, clothes, cover, degree, design, display, exemption, exemptions, fighter, graduands, graduation, Great Hall, guest, guests, hair, librarian, librarians, library, library school, library schools, neighbour, neighbours, nephew, niece, page, parents, primary, pub, publication, publications, random, Reading, results, school, stage, study, Swedish School of Library and Information Science, T shirt, TPR, undergraduate, University of Birmingham, unshaven, William Morris | Leave a comment

When an interactive workshop goes wrong (Rousse)

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Dreamaticus

This five day interactive workshop was not delivering creative ideas as anticipated. The participants were merely going through the motions of the exercises that they were set, and appeared to have no interest whatsoever in forming research relationships with one … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged author, book, children, cloth, common, copy, creativity, estate, exercises, family, friend, ginger, interactive, linen, lord, man, middle, page, participants, posh, relationships, research, robots, room, round, sign, signature, sir, table, university, white, woman, workshop | Leave a comment