Tag Archives: council

Illegal immigrant civil engineer offers advice for an ample bosom (Rousse)

Posted on August 2, 2025 by Dreamaticus

Had I been a couple of feet closer to the passageway, the man who emerged backwards carrying a long rake could have decapitated me. I should have paid more attention when I first saw the broom and hosepipe stacked up … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bosom, bra, broom, civil, cleaner, council, deportation, Edinburgh, engineer, hosepipe, immigrant, man, Melgund Terrace, Nigeria, passageway, police, rake, street | Leave a comment

Rude relations (Rousse)

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Dreamaticus

My sister J and her husband M decided to move to Edinburgh. They took a quick look at my flat, pulled out a pad of paper, and drew up some plans. Their big idea was to buy my flat and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brother-in-law, council, Edinburgh, flat, git, murmuration, nephew, New Town, Newcastle, permission, plan, planning, relations, renovate, rude, sister, starling, Traitors | Leave a comment

Developing a small business research strategy (Rousse)

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Dreamaticus

Belle was in disgrace. While I had been advising DC and his colleagues that UK research council documentation could serve as the starting point for the development of a government mandated small business research strategy, Belle had sloped off to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged braid, bully, business, career, council, hair, research, school, small, strategy | Leave a comment

Keeping distance from a research council meeting groper (Rousse)

Posted on May 26, 2022 by Dreamaticus

It was rather inappropriate to be invited back to rejoin the EPSRC committee that I left in 2018 – especially since many other ‘new’ members were my former colleagues and friends. I disgraced myself by falling asleep in the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged auditorium, break-out, council, groper, meeting, research | Leave a comment

Magic tricks for UK research council panel members (Rousse)

Posted on June 13, 2020 by Dreamaticus

I had a busy day ahead with a research council panel meeting in the morning followed by an operation to remove a facial skin cancer in the afternoon. CO was on the same schedule as me so – as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cancer, card, council, deck, Finland, magic, magician, member, panel, research, skin, trick, UKRI | Leave a comment

UK Research and Innovation style (Rousse)

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Dreamaticus

I put on my 1940s red and white gingham tea dress before setting off by train for Swindon. My outfit impressed the one member of research council staff who was interested in fashion. As she complimented me on my style, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1940s, council, dress, red, research council, Swindon, tea, turban, turquoise, UK Research and Innovation, UKRI, white | Leave a comment

Lettuce, a lorry, and Looney Tunes (Rousse)

Posted on October 10, 2018 by Dreamaticus

Belle was in town (hurrah!) but she was leaving on the next train (boo!) When she confessed to me that she had arrived two days ago to stay in her Edinburgh New Town pied à terre I did my best … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bag, balance, bank, Belle, coin, council, disappointment, Drummond Place, Edinburgh, friendly, Garmin, generous, gift, lettuce, Looney Tunes, lorry, meter, New Town, pied-à-terre, screen, snow, touchy--feely, watch | Leave a comment

Lobbying the Scottish Government: in person, on a Sunday, face-to-face, in French (Rousse)

Posted on March 10, 2018 by Dreamaticus

So impressed were we of RG’s athletic feat that we lobbied the Head of the Scottish Government – in person, on a Sunday, face-to-face, in French – to mark her achievement with a line of text carved in stone at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged achievement, athletic, audience, bid, carve, community, council, Coventry, employment, face-to-face, flaw, forget, French, government, head, hide, i3 conference, ignore, letter, lobby, memory, nomination, official, opportunity, prospect, recite, refuse, research, restaurant, risk, Scottish, stone, Sunday, supper, team, text, treasury | Leave a comment

Snow go in Worcestershire – but all’s OK in Birmingham (Rousse)

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Dreamaticus

The big challenge when driving in Birmingham was the quantity of traffic. TPR skilfully managed to avoid a crash as he weaved in and out of the lanes of the huge highways that passed through the city centre. Then we … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham, boundary, centre, challenge, city, council, crash, go, highway, lane, responsibility, snow, town, traffic, weave, Worcestershire | Leave a comment

Jack Charlton fisherman (Rousse)

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Dreamaticus

I spotted Jack Charlton from the back seat of a car as we drove through the outskirts of Newcastle. He pointed out where he lived: a small ex-council house on a very busy road. He said that he would rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged car, cold, conversation, council, drive, ex-council, father, fish, fisherman, fishing, freeze, friend, heated, house, Jack Charlton, medieval, Newcastle, outskirts, pastime, pool, recognition, remind, reverend, seat, stone, swimming, temperature, water, window, York | Leave a comment