Tag Archives: Christmas

A Jack Vettriano original (Rousse)

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Usually I didn’t have much to do with my widowed colleague X. His fearsome office wife guarded him jealously with an arrogant form of possessiveness that bordered on the pathological. In short, if you came too close, she’d make it … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accident, admin, body, cards, celebrity, Christmas, colleague, dead, death, Edinburgh, Italian, Jack Hoggan, Jack Vettriano, Merchiston Place, Morningside Road, office wife, painter, publisher, Scottish, sofa, tourist, victim, widower | Leave a comment

A nightclub, a gift shop, and plastic surgery secrets (Rousse)

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I didn’t normally frequent nightclubs, but TPR was away and I wasn’t going to stay in on a Saturday night. I jumped into a taxi with three young men, muttered an apology for hitching this free ride, and travelled with … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged £10, bills, Christmas, crash, customers, desk, facelift, father, fee, gift shop, handbag, holiday, hospital, member, membership, men, nick-nacks, night club, nightclub, plane, plastic surgery, reception, Saturday, screen, sealing, shop, shopping, stationery, sticks, suit, surgery, taxi, television, TV, upstairs, wax, wounds | Leave a comment

Cool Christmas presents: introducing Mighty Mouse! (Rousse)

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Mighty Mouse screeches over the carpet at top speed. Whenever he hits a piece of furniture he bursts into several pieces revealing all his electronic innards. This is the toy to buy for Christmas 2012! You can easily reassemble Might … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2012, Amazon, Argos, £25, carpet, Christmas, climb, cool, coolest, dust, dusting, electronic, family, furniture, houewives, housewife, IKEA, leg, mighty, Mighty Mouse, mouse, neckline, present, presents, room, skirt, table, toy | Leave a comment

Bonding with Radcliffe and Maconie over the Farmer’s Boys and the BBC (Rousse)

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie enjoyed the Fringe so much that they decided to stay on in Edinburgh, at least until Christmas. By now I was their best friend and had persuaded them to help run my seminars. The students … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 6music, back rest, backrest, badge, BBC, BBC radio, best friend, bond, bonding, Bright Club, Christmas, class, comedy, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Bright Club, Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Farmer's Boys, festival, friend, friendship, Fringe, furniture, Maconie, music, party, Radcliffe, Radio 4, seminar, seminars, sofa, student, students, trick | Leave a comment

Dangerous driving in the United States (Rousse)

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Dreamaticus

After a quiet Christmas Day, TPR and I set off to visit KR. It was a long time since we had driven in the US, and the first time that we had taken our own right-hand drive vehicle on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alleyway, alleyways, America, American, beggar, beggars, bend, bends, car, Christmas, Christmas Day, drive, driving, freeway, freeways, hand-out, hand-outs, medieval, narrow, passenger, right-hand drive, town, TPR, traffic, underpass, United States, US | Leave a comment

Hall of residence handicrafts at the University of Birmingham (Rousse)

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Nobody needed any persuasion to take to the floor at the Manor House reunion disco. With the first beat of the first record it was filled with enthusiastic dancers. I mentioned to TPR that we should list all these popular … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham, Birmingham University, card, cards, Christmas, dance, dancers, disco, father, hall, hall of residence, handicraft, handicrafts, library, Manor, Manor House, paper, papers, party, playlist, record, records, reunion, scrap, scraps, surname, university, University of Birmingham | Leave a comment

Wedding day blues: you just can’t get the staff (Rousse)

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My wedding day was fast approaching. All that I needed to do now was transfer my hair straighteners and make-up to the hotel bedroom and then I’d be all set for the ceremony. The hotel bedroom was palatial. It was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alcoholic, alcoholics, antiques, bedroom, blues, brush, carpet, ceiling, ceremony, Christmas, classroom, cleaner, complaint, contract, dignity, dirt, dustpan, hair, hair straighteners, handyman, hoover, hotel, make-up, makeup, marriage, mess, needles, refusal, shift, staff, standards, straighteners, tile, tiles, tree, wedding | Leave a comment

Write early for Christmas 2012 (Rousse)

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Dreamaticus

JK was away so DB chaired the meeting in her place. Instead of discussing business, however, we all sat at the table writing our Christmas cards. After a few minutes of addressing envelopes EH mentioned that perhaps this was something … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2012, business, card, cards, chair, chairing, Christmas, dry, drying, envelope, envelopes, fire, fountain, home, ink, meeting, pen | Leave a comment

Time-travelling Rousse misses several photo opportunities and breaks a promise

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I was in desperate need of a decent picture for my photo journal. I simply couldn’t find anything nearby that was interesting enough to snap. Then I struck upon an idea. If I travelled back in time just a couple … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bald, bookies, bookmaker, capital, China town, Chinese, Chinese new year, Christmas, complain, complaint, Concordia, cruise, dark, dog, English, family, field, flock, friend, Giglio, Isle of Skye, isola, Italy, jump, jumping, lens, light, liner, meal, mountain, mountainside, New Year, opportunities, panic, photo, photograph, Portree, promise, restaurant, secret, sheep, ship, shoe, snap. opportunity, stranger, sun, sunset, takeaway, time travel, time-travelling, train, trains, valley, vegetation, voice, wood | Leave a comment

Ambridge sensation: Pat Archer is “happy” (Rousse)

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The months of misery were over and my friend Pat Archer was finally smiling again. “It’s only been on the market for a week, and with the Christmas holiday coming up I knew it wouldn’t sell straightaway, but I’m optimistic … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Ambridge, Archers, bridge, Bridge Farm, Christmas, farm, happy, holiday, house, husband, market, misery, Pat Archer, sale, selling, Tony Archer | Leave a comment