Tag Archives: business

Running a successful antiques business (Rousse)

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Dreamaticus

BM and RG’s sidewalk antique stall was such a success that I was seriously considering setting up one of my own on the pavement right next to theirs.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged antiques, antqiue, business, pavement, run, sidewalk, success, successful | Leave a comment

The chaos of rapid expansion in UK higher education (Rousse)

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Dreamaticus

The expansion of Queen Margaret University’s portfolio of courses was so rapid that its building could not cope with the additional student numbers. Indeed something had gone terribly wrong during the extra construction work and now many of the institution’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, business, chaos, construction, corridor, corridors, dead-end, dead-ends, English, expansion, hall, higher education, hiss, history, information, joy, knowledge management, language, lecture, lunch, meeting, mess, Queen Margaret University, sources, staircase, staircases, student, students, timetable, tutor | Leave a comment

Poor business etqiuette at Oracle acquisition (Rousse)

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Since it was the graduate sales training manager of Edge (an Oracle acquisition) who had dragged me all the way down to London to “discuss possibilities”, he should have understood that he was obliged to turn down my offer to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accident, acquisition, assistant, business, cost, etiquette, fatal, forget, glove, hair, lift, lunch, mechanism, Oracle, pay, receptionist | Leave a comment

Northumbria University’s funfair recruitment drive, and two naughty sisters (Rousse)

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Dreamaticus

When my sister heard that I had a meeting in Newcastle she said that she would like to see me afterwards. Northumbria University had changed considerably since my last visit. In an apparent effort to recruit more students, the campus … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alley, behaviour, bollards, business, commitments, decorations, displays, drive, eeting, expenses, external, family, finance, Friends, funfair, garish, generosity, hotel, Jesmond, metro, naughty, Newcastle, Northumbria University, old, Range Rover, recruit, runner, sister, students, support, unemployed, university, work, wreck | Leave a comment

Ten year-old genius develops new app to measure distance (Rousse)

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Dreamaticus

My new best friend was MS, the ten year-old daughter of an external work colleague who was on business in town. MS very proudly showed off a new app that she had just developed. It was an electric ruler that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged angles, app, business, cheeks, chin, colleague, daughter, develop, distance, distances, electric, face, friend, glands, pointy, ruler, screen, swell, swollen, throat, virus, work | Leave a comment

Pudding wine and a patient (Rousse)

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I winced when TPR ordered pudding wine. He was a last-minute guest at our business dinner, and it certainly wasn’t his place to make demands of the waiting staff to meet his expensive personal tastes. I hoped that BR and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bill, blanket, business, care, client, clients, demands, desk, dessert, dinner, expensive, flat, indiscretion, infection, mission, money, office, owe, pale, patient, pay, personal, pudding, puffy, questions, recovery, request, requests, staff, taste, tastes, teaching, team, throat, TPR, transport, waiter, waitress, wine | Leave a comment

Hugh Grant lookalike cited in affair accusations (Rousse)

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I tried to work out why TPR and I were staying in this business hotel by peering at the badges of the other guests. One man appeared to be “the friendliest of the friendly”. This didn’t help, other than suggest … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accusation, accusations, affair, appeal, aunt, aunties, aunts, badge, badges, bathroom, black, blame, business, case, child, court, cult, family, friendly, Fringe, golden, guest, guests, hair, hotel, Hugh Grant, husband, locks, look, lookalike, niece, raven, room, shock, suggestion, thick, town, TPR, unrecognisable, wash, worry | Leave a comment

Corbridge attracts Texan property investor (Rousse)

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Dreamaticus

As my father cycled at full pelt up the hill he explained that two very astute business women had bought up most of the residential property in the pretty Northumbrian village of Corbridge. The first was my mother. The second … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bike, business, Corbridge, cycle, father, hill, investor, mother, Northumberland, property, residential, Texan, village, wealthy, women | Leave a comment

Herman’s hermits’ secret identity (Rousse)

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Dreamaticus

When I mentioned that I was a toddler fan of Herman and the Hermits, the American drag queen with the shock of orange hair could barely contain his/her excitement. “I wanted to marry Peter Noone when I was three” I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1960s, American, bag, bags, bouffant, business, car, card, chat, conference, cover, drag, dress, dresses, driver, driving, fame, fan, female, frock, girl, hair, hairstyle, hairstyles, Herman, Herman and the hermits, hermits, hotel, identity, magazine, man, marry, mini, Orange, pencil case, Peter Noone, picture, pretty, Queen, red, seat, secret, suite, toddler, TPR, weekend, women | Leave a comment

Herman and his (twenty-first century) hermits take a trip to Manchester Airport (Rousse)

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Dreamaticus

“It’s Herman the German” hissed AW when I asked who was at the wheel of my car. Now I understood why WB was chatting away in her native language in the passenger seat. Herman was driving us all to Manchester … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged airport, Birmingham University, business, car, china, coincidence, departure, documents, driving, German, Herman, Herman and the hermits, hermits, holiday, language, LinkedIn, lounge, Manchester, Manchester airport, Manor House, park, parking, recycle, sofa, trading, travel, trip, University of Birmingham, vehicle | Leave a comment