Tag Archives: Edinburgh

An aeroplane exit and an Edinburgh Fringe entry (Rousse)

Posted on July 6, 2025 by Dreamaticus

I paid attention as the air steward ran through the safety announcement. The instructions had changed. In an emergency, we were to exit through the roof of the plane. The route was through small marked holes in the ceiling. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aeroplane, air, American, announcement, Avery, ceiling, Edinburgh, Fringe, instruction, overweight, plane, programme, roof, safety, steward | Leave a comment

Axe-wielding climate change protesters damage personal property (Rousse)

Posted on July 2, 2025 by Dreamaticus

I ran back to the train carriage just in time to collect my forgotten belongings. A few seconds later, and the cleaners would have scooped up everything for disposal. Out of the station and onto the Edinburgh streets, I ran … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged business, cardigan, cashmere, change, cleaner, climate, Edinburgh, host, hotel, Lothian Road, meeting, protest, station, student, teacher, train, training, visitor | Leave a comment

A home in the Pentland Hills and a bad tempered husband (Rousse)

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Dreamaticus

High in the Pentland Hills, we moved to a lovely large bungalow with beautiful views of the city of Edinburgh in the distance. The one drawback was that our new house was underneath a pylon and several criss-crossing electricity cables. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bad, bungalow, cable, Edinburgh, electricity, freezer, gripe, guests, hills, house, husband, lemon, meringue, Pentland, pie, pylon, temper | Leave a comment

In defence of the ‘Nonsense Norwegian’ (Rousse)

Posted on April 20, 2025 by Dreamaticus

The residential staff retreat was a dreary affair. As I stood in a queue waiting for my turn to take part in the next ‘exciting’ activity – charity shop shopping – my mother-in-law lifted my woollen jumper to check that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blade, charity, cousin, defence, Edinburgh, hall, jumper, lecture, mother-in-law, navigation, nonsense, Norwegian, Nottingham, poke, retreat, shop, shoulder, suit, technology, university | Leave a comment

A view of Edinburgh Castle and a cat in the dentist’s car seat (Rousse)

Posted on March 21, 2025 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I didn’t miss the city when we moved to the outskirts of Edinburgh. Our house was a luxurious new-build with an extraordinary number of bathrooms. From a thin window on the top floor, we could see in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bathroom, castle, cat, dentist, Edinburgh, High Street, house, new-build, outline, parents, pet, seat, sister, sunrise, toothache, window | Leave a comment

Identifying elite US and UK universities (Rousse)

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Dreamaticus

I told a gaggle of American students that everything that I had ever learnt about elite US universities came from watching films. They were impressed that this ‘strategy’ of mine was so successful. I then asked them if they could … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American, Cambridge, Edinburgh, elite, higher education, library, Newcastle, Oxford, top, UK, universities, university, US | Leave a comment

Rude relations (Rousse)

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Dreamaticus

My sister J and her husband M decided to move to Edinburgh. They took a quick look at my flat, pulled out a pad of paper, and drew up some plans. Their big idea was to buy my flat and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brother-in-law, council, Edinburgh, flat, git, murmuration, nephew, New Town, Newcastle, permission, plan, planning, relations, renovate, rude, sister, starling, Traitors | Leave a comment

Amol Rajan: rubbish railway worker

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Dreamaticus

Amol Rajan had given up in journalism for a job selling train tickets at London King’s Cross. When he failed to find me a split ticket for the route London-Newcastle-Edinburgh, I recommended that he return to his old role. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Amol, Amol Rajan, Edinburgh, journalism, journalist, London, Newcastle, rail, railway, Rajan, split, ticket, train, Waverley, worker | Leave a comment

An Edinburgh pied à terre (Rousse)

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Dreamaticus

J and GC beamed with pride when they announced that they had bought a pied à terre in Edinburgh. ‘How exciting!’ I exclaimed. When I entered the poky two-bedroomed ground floor flat on Broughton Road, I managed to hide my … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Broughton Road, disappointment, Edinburgh, pied-à-terre | Leave a comment

Teenage behaviour amongst the middle aged (Rousse)

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Dreamaticus

Two middle aged men called over to us from the other side of East Claremont Street, Edinburgh. ECM and I didn’t immediately recognise them as ST and PN. However, as soon as we did, we were transported back to our … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boys, career, congratulate, East Claremont Street, Edinburgh, men, run, teenage, teenagers | Leave a comment