Tag Archives: dining room

Garfields survive house clearance deadline (Rousse)

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Dreamaticus

Now that my youngest sister had cleared our parents’ house (albeit a year later than the ‘final’ deadline), my middle sister and I felt able to accept the new owner’s invitation to visit it once more and look at his … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged clear, clearance, curtain, deadline, dining room, Garfield, house, parent, parental, parents, renovation, sister, soft toy, teddy | Leave a comment

A deadly bed and breakfast (Rousse)

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Dreamaticus

It must have been cold in Susan Morrison’s bed and breakfast because TPR was wearing JH’s woollen beanie hat in bed (while JH slept on the floor beside us). It was a dangerous trek across the field to breakfast the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged B&B, bank, barbed wire, beanie, bed and breakfast, bill, breakfast, climb, cold, comedian, corpse, cubicle, danger, deadly, dining room, drift, dry, fence, field, floor, front, guest, hat, infuriate, jump, land, mansion, murderess, raid, river, rot, sleep, slide, slip, slippery, steep, Susan Morrison, swim, swimming bath, torrent, towel, TPR, trek, water, weir, wool | Leave a comment

A disappointing trip to Africa with Thomson (Rousse)

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Dreamaticus

A Thomson Holidays trip to North Africa was as miserable as I feared. The hotel dining room was the biggest disappointment. It was as drab as a student refectory, and at mealtimes you were obliged to share your dinner table … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Africa, dining room, dinner, disappointing, drab, hotel, meal, miserable, North Africa, reduced circumstances, refectory, room, stranger, strangers, student, table, thomson, Thomson Holidays, TPR, trip | Leave a comment

Party disaster (Rousse)

Posted on April 12, 2014 by Dreamaticus

My fiftieth birthday celebration was a disaster. Everything was wrong: The timing – a Wednesday lunchtime when everyone was at work The venue – a boring hotel dining room in rainy Manchester The guest list – dreary external work colleagues … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged celebration, colleagues, dining room, disaster, dull, food, guest, guests, hotel, Manchester, parents, party, rain, speech, timing, venue, Wednesday, work, wrong | Leave a comment

An encounter with the monochrome set (Rousse)

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Unused to running late, I was full of apologies when we finally pulled up the gravel drive of the White House in Hartburn. The cyclist was waiting, leaning against the dining room window with his white bike. I learnt later … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged apologise, bicycle, bike, black, blind, Blipfoto, bodies, clothes, cyclist, dining room, drive, Edinburgh, encounter, escape, gravel, Hartburn, Leith Walk, lights, mattresses, monochrome, see, set, sing, street, TPR, vision, white, White House, wife, woman | Leave a comment

HCI conference plays with delegates’ minds (Rousse)

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Should we sue the international HCI conference organisers for playing with our minds? Our first complaint was that they had provided us with “unstable” catering. The bread sticks on the buffet table at lunch time transformed into croissants at will. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged afternoon, bread, buffet, catering, complaint, complaints, conference, croissant, croissants, delegate, delegates, dining room, HCI, horror, hynotize, hypnosis, hypnotise, international, lunch, minds, plate, seat, sticks, table, transform, Wednesday | Leave a comment

Ski-ing and smoking (Rousse)

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The hotel brochure displayed page after page of glossy photographs of bright young things enjoying Alpine conditions on the nearby Scottish ski slopes. This gave the impression of glamour, when in reality the hotel itself was little more than a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alpine, blonde, brochure, cow, dining room, glamour, light up, onesie, photographs, Scotland, Scottish, ski-ing, slopes, smoking, trouble, woman, youth hostel | Leave a comment

Rousse’s new job

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I’d never before applied for an academic job where all short-listed candidates were interviewed together. The panel comprised two well-respected academics: the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of an English university, who – quite out of character – had turned bad cop for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academia, academic, academics, art, bacon, bad cop, boss, campus, candidates, Chinese, Christmas, competition, dilemma, dining room, driving, family, father, Friends, Glasgow, Glasgow University, Heriot-Watt, interview, job, kitchen, leadership, Manchester, mother, niece, panel, position, post, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, questions, resignation, romantic, short list, short-listed, Stockton-on-Tees, stuffing, turkey, university, University of Glasgow, Victorian, White House | Leave a comment

The battle for glamour and a triumph over claustrophobia (Rousse)

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Dreamaticus

This was very interesting: Mrs S versus Mrs W. Who would win the battle for glamour between the mothers of my friends VJ and JW? While they fought it out I pushed past the servants setting tables in the dining … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged battle, bravery, chimney, claustrophobia, dining room, fireplace, glamor, glamour, grate, Scotland the Best, servants, tables | Leave a comment

School reunion imposter unmasked in Yorkshire (Rousse)

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Dreamaticus

A second school reunion was organised after the success of the 2011 event. This time it was held in the Yorkshire village of Robin Hood’s Bay in a beautiful posh restaurant that looked over the beach. Kev F Sutherland drove … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach, booking, bookings, business cards, car, chair, chairs, damage, dent, dining room, driving, Edinburgh, fake, husband, imposter, invitation, Kev F Sutherland, people carrier, place setting, place settings, purple, restaurantt, reunion, Robin Hood's Bay, running, school, scratch, table, TPR, vehicle, wall, wing, Yorkshire | Leave a comment