Tag Archives: Christmas

Queen and Duke of Edinburgh spend Christmas with commoners in Northumberland (Rousse)

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh decided to break with tradition and spend Christmas away from Sandringham. Instead of surrounding themselves with members of their own family, the royal couple accepted an invitation to celebrate the festivities at my … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Christmas, commoners, couple, Duke of Edinburgh, family, festivities, house, invitation, Northumberland, parents, Prince Philip, Queen, Queen Elizabeth II, royal, Sandringham, tradition | Leave a comment

Stockton Sixth Form College students take to the skies and survive the flood (Rousse)

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Very few of the staff who taught me were still now working at the Stockton Sixth Form College. The only teacher that I recognised was Mr X, still sporting his distinctive comb-over. I found ECM queening it over everyone in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acting, arms, banana, blonde, boyfriend, Christmas, college, comb-over, common room, Cortina, door, driver, flood, Ford, friendship, home, house, infant, ladder, lead, mark 3, mother, nativity, parachute, parachutes, performance, play, plays, pupil, pupils, redhead, reunion, role, rope, school, sixth from, skies, staff, star, Stockton, Stockton-on-Tees, student, students, survive, swim, talent, teacher, teachers, tradition, tree, tree house, upstairs, water, waters, yellow | Leave a comment

The perfect Christmas pudding (Rousse)

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Dreamaticus

When I saw my mother-in-law add two teaspoons of Fairy Liquid to her mix, I finally understood why I hated the taste of Christmas pudding.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Christmas, fairy, mix, mother-in-law, pudding, teaspoons, washing up liquid, Xmas | Leave a comment

Looters target “closed” university campus (Rousse)

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I broke my promise to myself and sneaked into the office during the Christmas vacation shut-down. I knew that it was wrong – especially since the University had asked for all computers to be switched off for a fortnight – … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged backlog, campus, capture, Christmas, computer, computers, corridor, January, light, lights, loot, looter, looters, lootinh, office, offices, promise, room, scallywag, shut-down, sneak, table, team, university, vacation, work | Leave a comment

Rob Brydon and Sarah Millican top Rousse’s bill

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Our timing was perfect. The family that had bought our little house in Birmingham was away for Christmas, so we could just move straight back in. At first the neighbours were suspicious, but one by one we won them over. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham, Cheshire, Christmas, Edinburgh, family, friend, Friends, gig, gigs, house, neighbour, neighbours, Rob Brydon, Sarah Millican, Sunderland, suspicious, tea, timing, woman | Leave a comment

Unappreciative Christmas guests (Rousse)

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The flat was bursting with visitors, the majority of whom were students with nowhere to stay over Christmas. There were two shy Chinese girls and one Chinese boy, a Korean boy sporting a huge mop of jet black hair, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American, bed, boot, boots, Chinese, Christmas, cold, colleague, crumbs, dog, flat, food, French, futon, guest, guests, hair, hall, host, jacket, Korean, paint, plates, porch, property, purple, room, shirt, sitting, squirrel, students, suede, tie, TPR, trap, University of Birmingham, vanadalise, visitors, voice, wall, wallpaper, white, white-wash | Leave a comment

The apprehension of Interpol’s most wanted (Rousse)

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Dreamaticus

We were coming to the end of the Christmas vacation and were thoroughly partied out. When TM, SC and I returned to our hotel at 06:40 after another heavy night, we wondered how on earth we would cope with getting … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, bedroom, Christmas, criminal, door, drak-haired, girl, Greek, hand, hotel, Interpol, men, most wanted, name, nameplate, party, Pavros, plate, quarry, romance, room, short, signals, slim, squad, staff, stocky, TPR, uniform, uniformed, vacation, work | 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

How to capture a Christmas turkey (Rousse)

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Dreamaticus

A herd of 100 Christmas turkeys roamed the moorland above Corbridge, cared for by their minder – a slim blonde girl in Dubarry boots. The birds’ colouring was a beautiful match for the purple heather. I wondered if I could … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blonde, boots' purple, Christmas, Corbridge, Dubarry, heather, journal, photo, photograph' capture, shot, turkey' turkeys | Leave a comment