Tag Archives: design

Grand designs in south west Birmingham (Rousse)

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Dreamaticus

The suburb of Northfield in Birmingham had smartened up considerably since the late 1980s. The tumbledown garages behind our old street had been demolished and replaced with a row of neat new houses. Our old house had been vastly extended at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bike, Birmingham, Champagne, design, garage, garden, gargoyle, Georgian, grand, granite, house, Northfield, portico, statue | Leave a comment

Urban garden design knowledge management exam (Rousse)

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Dreamaticus

I remembered my request for the removal of the multiple choice section from the Knowledge Management exam. Instead, the students would be required to answer three essay questions rather than two. On the day of the exam itself, I took … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boy, design, exam, examination, garden, knowledge management, lift, makeover, paper, question, students, urban | Leave a comment

Strawberry-growing, shoe-designing Rousse

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Dreamaticus

We had great success growing strawberries under our flourishing redcurrant bush. Our only mistake was to harvest the early fruit to ripen elsewhere while making room for the next crop. KT told us that doing so would ruin the soil, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bush, cheese, design, designer, harvest, redcurrant, shoe, soil, strawberry | Leave a comment

A winning wedding combo (Rousse)

Posted on May 8, 2019 by Dreamaticus

MSB and I were famous: she for her fabulous gown designs; I for my witty wedding speeches. Whether or not they were our clients, brides-to-be queued for hours for autographs and selfies with us. They were terribly excited at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged autograph, bride, design, gown, selfie, speech, wedding | Leave a comment

Topless David Beckham’s River Tweed tattooist (Rousse)

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Dreamaticus

David Beckham’s tattooist lived with his family on the banks of the River Tweed. I discovered the artist’s identity the day that TPR drove us to the tiny riverside cottage in his new black sports car . I admired the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1970s, artist, black, car, celebrity, Celtic, contact, cottage, David Beckham, design, details, ink, remnant, river, sports, tattoo, tattooist, topless, TPR, tweed | Leave a comment

Advances in book design (Rousse)

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Dreamaticus

BEX showed me the beautiful line drawings of a crowd that would be used for the cover of his new book. He was delighted when I said him that I loved the design, and took great pleasure in telling me … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged advance, art, attempt, book, breath, cover, crowd, design, improvement, line. drawing, mutter, wife | Leave a comment

A purple lacy fluffy cardigan (Rousse)

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Dreamaticus

EM was struggling to finish knitting a purple fluffy cardigan. She was concerned that she was dropping stitches all over the place. ‘Don’t worry’, I said, with hope in my voice. ‘Nobody will notice. You’ve just created an original lacy … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cardigan, design, drop, fluffy, knit, lace, lacy, original, purple, stitch | Leave a comment

A bargain cashmere cache (Rousse)

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Dreamaticus

I found an old-fashioned hand-knitted royal blue cashmere cardigan inside the envelope sent to me by BB. The price-tag on it said £25. Although it was tiny and wouldn’t fit me, I thought that that the cardigan might be suitable … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged £25, bag, bargain, blue, buyer, cache, cardigan, cashmere, design, envelope, faded, fashion, fit, garment, hand-knit, interior, international, jumper, niece, old-fashioned, royal, scarf, student | Leave a comment

Nazis plan invasion from University sanatorium base (Rousse)

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Dreamaticus

N and I were such good friends that she gave up her place in bed with S for me and slept on the sofa. The following morning I was up bright and early to welcome ECM on a long-anticipated trip … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged babies, baby, beat, bed, children, coat, dead, dean, design, diamond, emerald, engagement, hide, invasion, jewel, mothers, Nazi, Nazis, north, PA, recovery, rescue, ring, sanatorium, sinister, sofa, stationery, stranger, trip, trolley, trolleys, university, visitors, woods | Leave a comment

A weight-busting walk to Tom Robinson’s Stokesley (Rousse)

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The only way to lose weight was to take more exercise. My new regime was ambitious: to walk the mountain route from the south of Scotland to North Yorkshire on a regular basis. I wasn’t the only one with this … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1970s, aunt, boys, bungalow, design, destination, Edinburgh Academy, exercise, follow, foot, garden, girls, hideous, hills, hostess, house, lose, modern, mountain, North Yorkshire, path, regime, route, school, Scotland, sleepover, soak, staircase, staircases, Stokesley, stone, teenage, teenager, teenagers, Tom Robinson, village, walk, weight, West Green | Leave a comment