Tag Archives: driving

Boy racing and GCSE results (Rousse)

It difficult to tell what was the more shocking: (a) my colleague PC terrifying my Volvo-driving parents by goading my father to race his souped-up Subaru around a supermarket car park in Peebles, or (b) my nephew’s one and only … Continue reading

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Rousse pays homage to shark-wrestling Finnish immigrant

It was a bad day: I lost my shoes (black patent leather Mary Janes), mislaid my headphones, and couldn’t face a bare-footed music-less walk home. To my rescue came Professor JM. She offered me a lift down the A1 with … Continue reading

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Shoes lost and children found in Oxford (Rousse)

We were just taking our seats for breakfast at the guest house in Perth when suddenly the phone rang. In Oxford P, S, L and T were missing us terribly and demanded our company there and then. Miraculously we joined … Continue reading

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

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

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Fish and lamb (Rousse)

P and SM had secretly amassed a vast collection of enormous glug jugs, now displayed with pride in their sitting room. Some hung from from hooks, and the rest were arranged higgledy piggledy on a high shelf. I particularly admired … Continue reading

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Family life: a cure for obesity (Rousse)

AD had shrunk into a neat tweed suit worn under a brown overcoat, with the whole outfit topped off by a forest green felt hat. When we found him on Darlington Road he thanked us for the offer of a … Continue reading

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Secrets of the royal bride-to-be (not Kate Middleton, but Rousse)

My royal wedding was just a couple of weeks away. How extraordinary that I had been chosen to marry a prince of the realm (groom as yet unspecified). My school friend AH (now AR) was green with envy. In spite … Continue reading

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Selling tickets at the Fringe, and shooting woodcock in the Borders (Rousse)

Kev F Sutherland was our new boss. For our first task we set up a stall in the Pleasance Yard and prepared to sell as many tickets as we could for that night’s performance by the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet … Continue reading

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Noël Coward’s sick sense of humour and fridges full of carcasses (Rousse)

The faster runners soon pulled away from me and in a short time a significant gap developed between us. At least I was managing to keep everyone else in sight. Fortunately for them, the others reached Royal Terrace before the … Continue reading

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From Joan Armatrading discussions in Windermere to abandoned babies (Rousse)

Funny fragments: Travelling in the back of the car along the shores of Lake Windermere listening to the two butch women in the front arguing about Joan Armatrading, and working out how to persuade them to get back onto the … Continue reading

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