Tag Archives: door

Foreigner seeks bathroom refuge from summer 2012 Jubilee and Olympic Torch (Rousse) hype

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I pushed open the tiny bathroom door. Behind it stood a French student and his racing bike. I frowned at the dirty tyre marks on the white-tiled floor. “What on earth are you doing here?” I asked. “I had nowhere … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bathroom, bike, celebrations, door, foreigner, jubilee, Olympic, Olympics, racing, refuge, tile, tiled, tiles, torsch, tyre, white | Leave a comment

A failed kidnap and household safety advice from a Newcastle United fan (Rousse)

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Dreamaticus

We two brothers (plus dog) climbed into the car. Each of us believed that it was the other who had arranged to be picked up by this strange man and his daughter. Before long, however, we established though some frantic … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bother, brothers, captors, car, chain, chains, daughter, death, dog, door, doors, drive, driving, Edinburgh, foot, French, gesture, household, kidnap, Leith Walk, lights, lorry, man, Mound, Newcastle United, plan, planning, Princes Street, safety, stranger, tarmac, taxi, traffic lights, truck | Leave a comment

England manager hosts the party of the year (Rousse)

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Dreamaticus

IS and I had been invited to the party of the year – a school reunion hosted by an England football manager at his mansion. We arrived early in order to secure the best accommodation for the night, and were … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accommodation, Blipfoto, buffet, California, celebration, dance, dancing, door, dressing gown, dressing gowns, England, food, hook, iPad, iPads, laptop, laptops, MacAir, MacAirs, manager, mansion, mega-rich, party, reunion, rich, San Francisco, school, stranger, table, tables, tablet, tablets, towelling | Leave a comment

A cat-assisted attempt to avoid divorce (Rousse)

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Dreamaticus

There was only one way that I would find time to do my own research ever again: to register for a second PhD. I considered several options. I could return to the University of Birmingham where I had studied as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged African, Annandale Street, attempt, badge, badges, Birmingham, Birmingham University, boyfriend, cat, Claremont Crescent, dance, dancing, director, divorce, door, doorbell, dress, East Claremont Street, Ediburgh, ex-husband, eyes, garden, home, husband, identity, initials, lecturer, lights, marking, metal, Newcastle University, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University, parent, parents, PhD, railings, reconciliation, research, TPR, university, University of Birmingham, University of Newcastle, University of Oxford, wall | Leave a comment

The battle of the laundry basket (Rousse)

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Before TPR had pegged even a single item on the line in the garden of our holiday cottage a local woman appeared at his side, super-keen to take charge of the laundry basket. “Let me do that” she said. TPR … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged £10, basket, cash, door, French, holiday, islander, job, laundry, line, local, poverty, tenner, tourists, TPR, washing | Leave a comment

Elvis Costello and Libby Purves forced to share scant office space at the BBC (Rousse)

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Dreamaticus

MR and I got ahead of the others on a Sunday walk across the Pentland Hills with colleagues. Enthusing over Great British walks, MR declared how he would love to follow the Roman Wall trail from the south of England … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BBC, bet, betting, coffin, corridor, corridors, dead, death, door, Elvis Costello, envelope, estate, filing cabinet, filing cabinets, fire, fire doors, Hadrian, Hadrian's Wall, Heathrow, horse, horses, housing, Libby Purves, M25, necklace, Northumberland, office, Pentland Hills, Pentlands, prize, race, racing, Radio 4, Roman, Roman Wall, Romans, space, stationery, stones, Sunday, surprise, theme park, treasure hunt, walk | Leave a comment

Stephen Fry gone in a Wispa (Rousse)

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Stephen Fry was was at my house. Stephen Fry was at my house? Is that right? Yes, there he was sitting on the sofa talking to my niece AF about his role as the new front man for the latest … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged advertising, Cadbury, campaign, chocolate, corner, disappointment, door, Netsle, niece, photo, purse, shop, sofa, Stephen Fry, Wispa | Leave a comment

A grandmother, assorted colleagues, South American doctoral studies, and an ex-boyfriend (Rousse)

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The venue for KB’s last meeting before she finally retired was the sitting room of my grandmother’s house in Hexham. My last visit to the house was in 1992, but little had changed in 20 years. I tested the comfort … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1992, academic, bedroom, boyfriend, carpet, colleague, colleagues, comfort, distress, doctoral, door, ex, ex-boyfriend, garage, grandmother, granny, green, Hexham, house, lecturer, meeting, PhD, porch, retire, sitting room, sofa, South American, student, students, studies, study, studying, supervise, supervising, supervision | Leave a comment

An intruder, a storm, and the terrible after-effects of tree resin rain (Rousse)

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Dreamaticus

There’d been a number of break-ins at our flat over recent weeks, none of which had triggered our burglar alarm. We were sure, however, that it was just matter of time before we would walk in on the culprit(s). When … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acoustic, after-effects, alarm, alternative, arrest, bell, black, bouquet, box, boxes, break-in, burglar, caramel, celebrate, celebration, chocolate, chocolates, coffee, conversation, culprit, cushion, cushions, damage, door, flat, flower, flowers, fly, flying, friend, friendship, garden, gardens, ground, guitar, gym, hall, headlice, house, houses, identity, intruder, kettle, kitchen, lice, lifestyle, loss, memory, mother-in-law, mystery, neighbour, neighbours, paralysed, paralysis, peanut, peanuts, police, policeman, prison, rescue, resin, Russian, sitting room, sky, sofa, stiff, storm, stranger, tea, TPR, training, tree, weather, wind, windy, woman, work | Leave a comment

Rousse averts Las Vegas crime-spree

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Normally I hated huge Las Vegas hotels, but this one was an exception. The staff did everything to make you feel at home, right down to changing the name-plates on the bedroom doors each day so that guests believed that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged America, ancestors, ancestry, bedroom, bedrooms, bucket, buckets, CCTV, cellar, cinema, coat, dinner, door, doors, escalator, gamble, gambling, grinder, guard, guest, guests, hotel, hotels, Las Vegas, library, magazine, magazines, Nevada, newspaper, newspapers, oak, pepper, pocket, popcorn, restaurant, restaurants, room, rooms, salt, Scotland, Scottish, Scrabble, security, table, tables, tile, United States, USA, wall | Leave a comment