Tag Archives: cycling

Shetland’s craziest coach driver (Rousse)

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Dreamaticus

We had both settled into our seats on the train on the way to the airport when I asked TPR what he had done with the suitcase. Although we’d both remembered our rucksacks as hand luggage, he’d forgotten to pick … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged airport, bag, bags, boast, boasting, bumper, car, cars, children, coach, conversation, crazy, cycling, dead, death, diversion, dodgem, driver, driving, experience, flight, gate, hand, hillside, hotel, late, luggage, miss, missing, mountain, mountains, near-death, passengers, peak, peaks, reception, rucksack, rucksacks, seat, seats, Shetland, shop, shopping, souvenir, souvenirs, suitcase, tandem, theme park, toy, toys, TPR, train, watch | Leave a comment

Become a personal trainer – but not on this course (Rousse)

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Completely fed up with work, I decided to ditch academia to train as a fitness instructor, and joined the same course as FM. The pace of the classes was incredibly slow, largely because the tutor took a 15 minute break … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Arthur's Seat, bike, class, classes, course, cycle, cycling, exercise, fitness, hair, instructor, mountain, personal, student, students, trainer, tutor, wheel | Leave a comment

Holy Island Heights (Rousse)

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Just short of the Holy Island causeway, TPR steered the tandem over to the right. Perhaps behind these dunes we would finally discover the most beautiful beach in Northumberland? The sight before us from atop the marram grass was, indeed, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach, camera, causeway, cycling, desert, dune, dunes, Holy Island, Inner Mongolia, Lindisfarne, Mongolia, Northumberland, sand, shore, shoreline, tandem, Tengger Desert, TPR | Leave a comment

Debbie Harry impersonator stars at isolated Yorkshire guest house (Rousse)

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The isolated guest house on the North Yorkshire moors was well-known for its strict graduate-only entry policy. I travelled there by car with Belle and a stranger. We couldn’t compete with his credentials as a UCL-based Jane Austen expert with … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged baking, BBC, bicycle, bicyles, bike, bikes, Blondie, clerk, clerks, cycle, cycling, Debbie, Debbie Harry, Deborah, degree, disco, discos, explicit, Front Row, graduate, graduates, guest house, Harry, isolation, Jane Austen, London, lyrics, mobile, mobile phone, Moors, North Yorks, North Yorkshire, pastry, phone, radio, Radio 4, Scrabble, Stockton, Stockton-on-Tees, TPR, UCL, University College London, weather | Leave a comment

The Apprentice’s Natasha Scribbins vainly attempts to save Rousse from expenses claim hell

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The domed railway concourse was packed. I sat on a bench surrounded by a mixture of old friends from the University of Birmingham, as well as a couple of school friends. In conversation it emerged that KM (now KC) had … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Apprentice, bikes, circuit training, cycling, cyclists, Devon, dome, expenses, Glasgow, Natasha Scribbins, papers, railway, running, running club, TPR, train, University of Birmingham, York | Leave a comment

Beware iPhone e-mail reconnection charges and approaching traffic (Rousse)

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Although I was on holiday I couldn’t resist checking in on campus. Here I found a few close colleagues (DB, EH) taking a group of foreign staff and students out for lunch. Some walked to the restaurant, and others cycled. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged campus, cycling, driving, foreign, holiday, iPhone, lunch, pay-as-you-go, reconnection, staff, students, telecom, trandems, walking | Leave a comment

David Cameron’s seven-pack centrefold – plus numerous other adventures, including one at Buckingham Palace (Rousse)

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Dreamaticus

At first I was thrilled to be resident at Buckingham Palace. However, I hadn’t understood that once welcomed in, there was little prospect of getting out. I begged the security staff to show me the exit, explaining how much I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, bed, bikes, Buckingham Palace, car, cars, centre-fold, cigarette, cycling, Daily Mail, David Cameron, dormitory, Dorset, dream, ferry, Harris, holiday, Holy Island, installation, Isle of Skye, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne Castle, magazine, meeting, Nancy Cameron, politics, prime minister, royal family, running, security, seven-pack, six-pack, smoking, torso, TPR, Uig, video | 1 Comment

Alternative cycling in the Hebrides (Rousse)

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Water started pouring through the upper floor of our cottage at Timsgarry on the Isle of Lewis. My partner guessed that the source of the problem was most likely the spring further up the hill. The urgency was such that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cycling, cyclist, cyclists, flood, flooding, hill, horse, horsemen, horses, house, Isle of Lewis, Timsgarry, water | Leave a comment

Unhealthy pub grub and a Swedish opera singer (Rousse)

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Dreamaticus

We took a break from cycling and stopped off at a pub for a lunch. Since the bar was unstaffed, TPR poured himself a pint of a lager, and a half for me. Then the waiter brought us a dish … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bin, broccoli, chips, cycling, opera, pasta, pub, singer, Sweden, TPR | Leave a comment

Dead grandmother finances tricky train travel (Rousse)

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I’d over-stretched myself with a busy morning of cycling to the Welsh border combined with talking to strangers along the route, and now it was time to head home to Newcastle. It was only when my family gathered at Waverley … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged box, Carlisle, cartoon, cycling, Edinburgh, flat, grand-daughter, grandmother, lost, mother, Newcastle, purse, sister, station master, step-sister, train, trains, Wales, Waverley | Leave a comment