Tag Archives: car

A Lake District escape (Rousse)

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Dreamaticus

One minute I was lying next to my gorgeous cousin N. The next I was a kidnap victim, crushed into the back of a car heading for the Lake District. A strangely-shaped man, who had obviously raided my rucksack, squashed … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brandish, brush, car, comb, cousin, crush, find, gorgeous, hair, hairbrush, home, kidnap, Lake District, lunch, misdemeanour, packed, raid, rescue, rucksack, squash, steal, TPR, victim | Leave a comment

Harry Potter tattoos: the only clue to “Pedro’s” past (Rousse)

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I lost TPR during the final stage of the long journey to the US aboard an ocean liner. Occasionally I would spot him in the distance across deck, usually driving one of the small open cars used for deliveries by … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged America, authenticity, baby, body art, boot, car, cars, child, clue, companion, complexion, confront, deck, deliveries, delivery, disguise, driver, Edinburgh, family, George Heriot's School, Harry Potter, hide, Hogwarts, illegal, image, immigrant, JK Rowling, journey, labour, Latin, liner, lose, lost, Mexican, moustache, muscle, ocean, past, Pedro, questions, Scotland, seat, ship, silver, skinny, staff, tan, tattoo, tattoos, trap, US | Leave a comment

Hotel thefts in Hawaii (Rousse)

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Very soon I would be heading home from Hawaii. In the few hours before my flight I planned to sunbathe in the hotel grounds. I couldn’t risk lying on the beach. The waves were too unpredictable. That morning they’d already … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged advice, beach, camera, car, dollars, flight, gilet, guest, guests, Hawaii, hotel, lambskin, lamp-post, lamppost, lawn, pocket, pockets, purse, reception, receptionist, report, rules, staff, steal, strangers, sunbathe, theft, thefts, tickets, valuables, wallet, waves | Leave a comment

From danger in the Scottish hills to a ski-ing trip in Surrey (Rousse)

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I struggled up the mountain side, the gap between us widening with every step I took. TPR was miles ahead of me and I would never catch up with him. The terrain was particularly difficult over the grassy banks. If … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged amusement, bank, banks, bed and breakfast, boots, car, check out, coincidence, Dave, downs, egg, footing, forecast, graduate, grass, grassy, guests, hill, hills, keys, kill, lift, Masters, mountain, mountains, number, reunite, sand, Scottish, shout, ski, ski-ing, snow, sports, summit, Surrey, toast, trip, walker, walkers, winter | Leave a comment

An embarrassing toilet tale (Rousse)

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We drove west for miles, the entire family squashed into a tiny black car, to Dumfries and Galloway. At our final destination I inspected the bathroom facilities. Whoever thought it sensible to install the toilet in the open conservatory next … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aunt, bathroom, car, car park, conservatory, cousin, dining, driving, Dumfries, embarrassing, Galloway, lid, MIles, parents, room. fern, tale, toilet, west | Leave a comment

A coping strategy for the strangely blind (Rousse)

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I suffered from an extremely rare form of blindness. Although I still had my sight, what I saw was completely different from what everyone else could see. I did all I could to disguise my disability by listening very carefully … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 50th, blast, blind, blindness, brother-in-law, car, chat, cope, coping, dance mat, dance pad, disability, disguise, East Midlands, engine, fiftieth, fifty, game, garden, Harris, high performance, hills, Isle of Harris, listen, music, neighbour, nephew, niece, nieces, pop, Porsche 911, present, pretence, rare, see, sight, sister-in-law, sisters-in-law, South Harris, strategy, street, suburban, sunset, TPR, vision | 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

Unwise words and a Christmas tragedy on the Thames (Rousse)

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

“How awful that your daughter-in-law’s father is a crook, and that her mother is a burnt-to-a-crisp, over-tanned, airhead shopaholic!” said N. More awful was that she uttered these words while (unknowingly) sitting right next to the daughter-in-law in question. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accident, airhead, balcony, bar, Birmingham, blood, boatman, car, catch, celebrate, celebration, celebrations, Christmas, city, colleagues, crook, daughter-in-law, death, die, drink, drive, drown, fall, family, faux pas, invitation, jelly beans, jetty, ladder, London, motorboat, motorboats, neck, party, pub, red, shopaholic, skyline, slip, students, tan, Thames, toilets, tragedy, water, wine bar | Leave a comment

Desperate nuns resort to kidnap to drive up convent recruitment figures (Rousse)

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I always hated the return to work after my holiday, but what made this worse was that the campus had been moved from Corstorphine in Edinburgh to Perry Barr in Birmingham, and there was nobody there other than me. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham, campus, captors, car, catholic, convent, Corstorphine, desperate, Edinburgh, female, Friends, headscarf, hippy, holiday, kidnap, life, nun, nuns, people carrier, Perry Barr, recruitment, relief, resort, return, road, robe, running, safe, sister, sisters, terrorist, terrorists, weapons, woamn, women, work | Leave a comment