Tag Archives: chair

Sleep, stations, Swindon, and Southampton (Rousse)

It was our second day back in the UK after our transatlantic trip and I was due to chair a meeting in Swindon. I caught the train from London and took my seat – then, suffering from jet lag, I … Continue reading

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Madonna in blue silk (Rousse)

Madonna looked slim and beautiful in a deep blue silk gown. Everyone would want a piece of her, but all that interested her was spending time with me and our immediate friends. We took a corner in the sitting room … Continue reading

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Copycat campus shootings come to the UK (Rousse)

AM was interviewed first. Then it was my turn. By the end of the day each of us had been offered a chair at Northumbria University. How amazing that we would be working together! We were both happy to be … Continue reading

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Open plan living and outlet stores (Rousse)

TPR came out of retirement to do one last rotation in the US. We lived ‘open plan’ in a gym-sized hall alongside many other people. This meant that we had to share furniture and dress in front of the others. … Continue reading

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A missed reservation at the “best restaurant in the world” (Rousse)

We arranged to meet in Paris at 1:30pm. J chose the venue: a beautiful white stucco-fronted hotel, opposite a formal park. When I arrived (just a couple of minutes late) J greeted me enthusiastically. Although we hadn’t seen one another … Continue reading

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Panel deals drugs at University interview (Rousse)

I had been primed to ask the interview candidate about three publications that he used when teaching the Information Delivery module. One of these was co-authored by me, with the candidate himself. This was just one of the strange things … Continue reading

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Alternative careers for engineers, and vile furniture (Rousse)

Why didn’t anyone tell AA and his fellow engineers that a switch of career from academia to retail at their stage of life was an idiotic idea? I left them to it, found TPR, and spent the rest of the … Continue reading

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Kidnapped by acrobats (Rousse)

DT, TPR, LA and I met in a crowded bar. DT’s orange messenger-style handbag slipped off the back of the chair onto the floor and I stretched down to pick it up for her. It was at that moment that … Continue reading

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Rousse loses it at a meeting

I was officially hopeless. At a meeting at work: I couldn’t remember PhD student L’s name and mistakenly introduced her to everyone as “Valerie”. My old colleague JB, with whom I had last worked in 1999, took my place in … Continue reading

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A puffin child prodigy (Rousse)

Although I’d given up my gym membership long ago, from time to time I still popped into Virgin Active at Edinburgh’s Omni Centre. This was largely because I liked sitting in the café and pretending that it was my own … Continue reading

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