Tag Archives: campus

George Clooney charms Edinburgh (Rousse)

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Dreamaticus

George Clooney was back in Edinburgh, and now that we were firm friends he opted to stay at my house rather than a hotel. It was a pity that I had to go to work while he visited, but that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged autograph, autographs, bus, campus, charm, charms, Edinburgh, George Clooney, hotel, house, office, photo, photograph, photographs, photos, work | Leave a comment

Spiderwoman student adds to academic’s workload woes (Rousse)

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I needed to speak urgently to PhD student S. I could see her out of the window from my office in the tower block on campus. I called out to her and she said that she would come up straight … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged block, brickwork, building, campus, carpentry, crutches, frame, gap, office, pane, PhD, spider, Spiderwoman, stairs, student, superhero, tower, towerblock, window, woman, workload | Leave a comment

Laptop loss at the beach (Rousse)

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I set up my lap top on the sea wall, with the desktop machine nearby as back-up. I was meant to be working, but from time to time it was fun to look up and watch the water. I was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach, C&IT, campus, computing, desktop, equipment, illegal, information technology, IT, kit, laptop, loss, machine, photograph, rescue, rescuing, sea, wall, water, wave | Leave a comment

Battle of Flodden commemorations preview (Rousse)

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Dreamaticus

We were stuck in an ill-equipped classroom several miles out of town away from the excellent resources of our main campus. Somehow I had to entertain this small class of postgrad students with no access to the online materials that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1513, 2013, anniversary, battle, Branxton, campus, class, classroom, commemoration, commemorations, Flodden, Northumberland, postgrad, postgrads, postgraduate, postgraduates, resources, September, student, students, village | Leave a comment

Thirsty Queen congratulates academic on latest leg of jubilee tour (Rousse)

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Dreamaticus

For security reasons the date of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee visit to campus had been kept a closely guarded secret. It was a complete coincidence that I happened to come into the office on that particular day at the height … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged au pair, Black Watch, blackwatch, bottle, bouquet, bouquets, bow, campus, cast-off, cast-offs, congratulate, congratulations, cotton, diamond jubilee, dress, flowers, jubilee, mini-skirt, office, outfit, photograph, photographs, PowerPoint, presentation, Queen, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth II, royal, secret, security, sixth form, skirt, sports, summer, tartan, thirst, thirsty, tour, university, vacation, water | Leave a comment

A happy job move (Rousse)

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I took up my new post so quickly that there was no time to organise a leaving do in Scotland. I didn’t even have time to arrange any temporary accommodation, so we lived out of our car for our first … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accommodation, campus, car, colleagues, consumption, department, estimate, finances, food, happy, job, leaving, ledger, meal, meals, move, Paris, salary, spend, spending, student, students, TPR, tutorial, tutorials | Leave a comment

Planning a party and pilfering pains au chocolat (Rousse)

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The venue asked us to make some decisions for our afternoon of celebration: would we prefer the chairs to be set out theatre or cabaret style, and when would we like tea and cake to be served – before or … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, bag, bags, cabaret, cake, campus, celebration, chair, chairs, death, funeral, janitor, lecture, pain au chocolat, pains au chocolat, performance, reception, record, records, Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, shopping, stereo, tea, theatre, turntable, venue, vinyl, volunteer, volunteers | Leave a comment

Jack Dee, school girls in gingham blouses, and dental floss (Rousse)

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I couldn’t believe my luck: Jack Dee agreed to coach me for my big lecture in March! In the meantime, there were some more mundane duties to attend to on campus. EH suggested that a couple of glasses of Champagne … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blouse, blouses, Bodleian, campus, CCTV, Champagne, dental, department, floss, gingham, girls, glasses, Jack Dee, Jesus College, lecture, library, March, Oxford, pink, presentation, pupils, school, University of Oxford | Leave a comment

A mother’s secret career and further clues of the Baby Ted graveyard (Rousse)

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The party of external examiners included an elderly man from Sheffield University, a woman from Loughborough, and a dark-haired systems librarian called Mike Hirst. They all seemed friendly enough although none were interested enough to acknowledge (or perhaps question) who … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1975, academic, Baby Ted, bear, Blackberry, campus, career, colleague, e-mail, examiner, examiners, game, graveyard, handbag, internal, librarian, line, lines, Loughborough, mentor, mother, Muirhead Tower, mum, office, opera, PhD, phone, premium, professor, replica, roads, secret, Sheffield, sister, soap, soaps, Stockton-on-Tees, systems, teddy, telephone, television, tights, tower block, traffic, trek, TV, university, University of Birmingham, viva, walk, White House | Leave a comment

Rousse avoids a rubbish job

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Back in 1982 I was doing all I could to avoid what I considered an inappropriate task for female first year undergraduates: picking up litter. They said that the boys would be there too, but I didn’t believe it. I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1982, Birmingham University, boys, campus, carriage, class, classes, collection, female, floor, girls, lift, litter, lying, Muirhead Tower, rail, shop assistant, shopping, shopping centre, station, student, students, train, undergraduate, undergraduates, uniform, uniforms, University of Birmingham, waiter, waiters | Leave a comment