Tag Archives: campus

Enemy of the Principal loses her mind (Rousse)

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My class started at 14:00 and it was already 14:05. I still needed to collect the materials from my office. More pressing was the requirement to dress. I couldn’t really turn up to teach wearing just a navy blue towel. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accusation, backlog, blue, campus, class, clothes, dinner suit, disguise, e-mail, escalator, escalators, head of school, innocence, late, lose, materials, merger, mind, mobile, navy, office, phone, Principal, QMU, Queen Margaret University, secret, secrets, staircase, staircases, students, text, towel, town | 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

Rousse’s encounter with the England World Cup winners

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I had to travel from Birmingham to London to check out the venue for the following day’s conference. While the others piled into cars and minibuses, I wandered around the car park regretting that I had not arranged a lift. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham, campus, car, car park, cars, chocolate, commiteee, Edinburgh Folk Club, England, football, hero, heroes, hitchhiker, iPhone, lift, London, member, MG7, minibus, minibuses, PowerPoint, presentation, reports, shop, south, sweet, team, vehicle, winners, World Cup | Leave a comment

Rousse’s new job

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I’d never before applied for an academic job where all short-listed candidates were interviewed together. The panel comprised two well-respected academics: the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of an English university, who – quite out of character – had turned bad cop for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academia, academic, academics, art, bacon, bad cop, boss, campus, candidates, Chinese, Christmas, competition, dilemma, dining room, driving, family, father, Friends, Glasgow, Glasgow University, Heriot-Watt, interview, job, kitchen, leadership, Manchester, mother, niece, panel, position, post, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, questions, resignation, romantic, short list, short-listed, Stockton-on-Tees, stuffing, turkey, university, University of Glasgow, Victorian, White House | Leave a comment

Melvyn Bragg’s editor, boasts about the Sound of Music, and other distractions keep Rousse away from class

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Now that it was December I no longer objected to the Christmas displays in the shops. I was even becoming more tolerant of the members of the sect who queued up every day in their drab black uniforms for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged camera, campus, Christmas, church, cinema, class, colleague, country, December, Dee, editor, freelance, guest, job, lecture, Melvyn Bragg, Radio 4, religion, River Dee, sect, Shetland, sound of music, students, teaching, term, Thursday, town, TPR, tyranny, undergraduates, uniform, uniforms | Leave a comment

Friday night terror for females on campus (Rousse)

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Dreamaticus

There was something so frightening at the university that DB offered to provide protection and accompany me to my office. When we reached campus we noticed how much the layout had changed due to the building work. However, it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged building, business, campus, colleagues, desk, desks, fear, female, Friday, layout, midnight, protection, terror, university, work | Leave a comment

Unexpected advice on the cultivation of dahlias (Rousse)

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Dreamaticus

As I walked across the exam room I started to argue the value of timed written assessments that comprise a compulsory multiple choice section followed by a choice of two essay questions from a selection of five. The invigilator hoping … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged admin, administrative, advice, American, assessment, assessments, British, campus, conversation, counter, cultivation, dahlia, dahlias, essay, essays, exam, hotel, interior design, invigilator, multiple choice, paper, papers, PhD, propagation, public, reception, receptionist, receptionists, registry, staff, student, students, summer, university | Leave a comment

JK Rowling bakes a mean meringue (Rousse)

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Dreamaticus

This is the tale of the day that JK Rowling and I finally secured our friendship. It didn’t start well… BR scolded me. He couldn’t understand why I thought it acceptable to walk the length of the railway line completely … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art gallery, backside, bag, bare, Birmingham University, blonde, bottom, campus, casserole, chute, classical, concert, dish, friend, friendship, handbag, Harry Potter, home-made, JK Rowling, library, library assistant, line, meringue, meringues, music, naked, parents, party, performance, railway, readers, Reading, reading room, room, seating, sisters, student, students, sunshine, tea, track, University of Birmingham, woman | Leave a comment

Ex-prison officer questions practice of announcing deaths in service (Rousse)

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I should never have told the Principal how I abhorred the prison service’s practice of announcing staff deaths. I complained at length about the lack of professionalism in the short e-mails that I received in my former career as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blackboard, campus, career, corridor, dead, death, e-mail, finance, fluorescent, HR, officer, pink, Principal, prison, professionalism, restaurant, service | Leave a comment

Office bombshell (Rousse)

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Dreamaticus

It was the hottest news on campus. Just returned from holiday, I handed in my notice. By complete coincidence my boss did exactly the same. She agreed to another three months in post, whilst I would be out of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bombshell, boss, campus, holiday, notice, office | Leave a comment