Tag Archives: class

Over body-confidence, laundry robbers, the Northumbrian pipes, and a man in white bow ties (Rousse)

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Dreamaticus

Early one morning, before the shops opened, my sister S, my mother and I ran along the Ullapool esplanade. At the far end we stepped on the scales. My sister weighed in at 11 stone five, over two stone heavier … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged appointment, black, body, body confidence, bow, business men, cinema, class, comic, connection, countryside, dress, enormous, esplanade, face, film, hat, hide-out, hoop, knickers, laundry, lime green, lipstick, massive, mother, multimedia, news, Northumbrian pipes, performance, pride, robber, screening, sequin, shirt, sick, sister, sparkle, story, tie, torso, Ullapool, unhealthy, university, weight, white | Leave a comment

Kidnap victims escape captor by first class rail (Rousse)

Posted on April 22, 2018 by Dreamaticus

BR and I were being held hostage by a crazy gunman who thought it hysterical to ‘tease’ us by holding a gun to our heads. Even funnier, in his warped mind, was to hand the deadly weapon over to each … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged captor, class, crazy, deadly, escape, first, gun, gunman, head, hostage, kidnap, London, rail, tease, train, trigger, victim, voucher, weapon | Leave a comment

Husband confesses affairs, then leaves (Rousse)

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Dreamaticus

There was very little room in our crammed dormitory. My own bed was second from the window, next to that of JM. JG and NF were at the other end of the room, by the door. Between us were four … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged affair, bed, Christmas, class, complex, confess, departure, door, dormitory, errant, family, husband, leave, love, Nantes, news, stranger, timetable, TPR, window | Leave a comment

Charity shop Whimsies and a sand slide bring joy to the office (Rousse)

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Dreamaticus

My new office space was appalling. I was shown to a tiny table with a computer at the end end of a long narrow room that accommodated around a dozen academics and research students. On the blue desk next to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, assessment, charity, class, computer, desk, distraction, joy, meeting, miss, noisy, office, open access, PhD, research, risk, room, sand, shop, slide, student, table, training, undergraduate, Whimsie | Leave a comment

French at the University of Birmingham (Rousse)

Posted on October 14, 2017 by Dreamaticus

The Birmingham University campus was unrecognisable. It was so hi tech – and the main library had been flattened. SH was still top of the class, and I a complete dunce. I wondered whether there would be time for me … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmimgham, campus, class, dunce, finals, French, library, tutor, university | Leave a comment

A rescue from classroom chaos (Rousse)

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Dreamaticus

The classroom was in chaos. Bowls of soup dropped down from the ceiling. My ex-colleague KB had prepared far too much for a one-hour class, and I was unconvinced that colouring-in was an appropriate undergraduate activity. JM came to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ceiling, chaos, class, classroom, colleague, colouring-in, embrace, hand, madness, rescue, room, soup, undergraduate, walk | Leave a comment

The value of writing concisely (Rousse)

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Dreamaticus

‘The greatest skill that we learnt as undergraduates’ announced JS to the audience seated before her on rows of hard wooden chairs ‘Is how to write concisely. I can turn one person’s long-winded paragraph into three neat sentences – as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged chair, class, concise, daughter, France, holiday, paragraph, PhD, row, scene, sentence, student, undergraduate, video, wood, write | Leave a comment

A [deleted] academic idiot (Rousse)

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Dreamaticus

There was precisely one hour before my first lecture of the new academic year – and I had done no teaching prep WHATSOEVER. RR urged me to at least make a couple of PowerPoint slides, while I wondered how many … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, campus, class, deleted, game, idiot, lecture, message, navigate, PowerPoint, prep, text | Leave a comment

Stockton-on-Tees local knows nothing about trains (Rousse)

Posted on May 21, 2017 by Dreamaticus

KA and I shared delivery of the lecture. Somehow I ended up with the ‘hard’ bit: explaining the difference between linear and complex computer programming. My instructions said to use railway tracks as an analogy, and make reference to a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged analogy, bacon, class, complex, computer, disappointment, egg, hard, history, lecture, linear, mayonnaise, programming, railway, roll, Stockton-on-Tees, track, train, trains, world | Leave a comment

University reunion surprises (Rousse)

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Dreamaticus

At the university reunion one girl complained that her breast reduction surgery had not been worth the bother, another seemed unable to sit still at the table (until we realised that she was popping out for cigarettes every ten minutes … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged breast, cigarette, class, girl, kitchen, member, reductiom, restaurant, reunion, success, surprise, table, university | Leave a comment