Tag Archives: English

A French affair (Rousse)

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Dreamaticus

The only way to get into the French hall of residence was to balance on wobbly podiums attached to the outside of the building, then leap from there into the dodgy lift. Once inside the lift you had to perform … Continue reading →

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Conference title fraud (Rousse)

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Dreamaticus

BB and I caught the train along the coast past the new complex of artificial ski slopes. Once settled at the conference venue we listened to a Norwegian who offered to present in French or English. Meanwhile a former PhD … Continue reading →

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Texan Snow White meets Cheshire Cat on the pantomime stage (Rousse)

Posted on June 16, 2016 by Dreamaticus

DT left baby J in Texas so that she could return to the UK and co-star in pantomime with CG. She was playing Snow White, and he the Cheshire Cat. It was rumoured that DT would speak on stage with … Continue reading →

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Ineffective Italian lessons (Rousse)

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Dreamaticus

JC and I sat at the dinner table desperate to join in the conversation across the room. An Italian mother was making a hopeless attempt to teach her native language to her English-speaking children. Both JC and I could do … Continue reading →

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The Emperor of China, Tom Forrest, an absent wife, and a widower (Rousse)

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Ancient tradition in China required the donning of a long black robe (similar to an academic gown) whenever the emperor visited. Every day during my imprisonment I was on standby for this eventuality. Meanwhile I joined in with the activities … Continue reading →

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Fun with Kalashnikov rifles (Rousse)

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I suspected that something funny was going on in the big upstairs bedroom. I pushed open the door and found my former colleague JB with eight or nine foreign men playing with Kalashnikov rifles. Only one other man spoke English, … Continue reading →

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Bilingual pre-school songstress wows Simon Cowell (Rousse)

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Now that A was a little older she was completely fluent in English (as well as German). One day we heard her singing an Ella Fitzgerald song in a deep, low, melodious voice. This was astonishing. None of us – … Continue reading →

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The chaos of rapid expansion in UK higher education (Rousse)

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Dreamaticus

The expansion of Queen Margaret University’s portfolio of courses was so rapid that its building could not cope with the additional student numbers. Indeed something had gone terribly wrong during the extra construction work and now many of the institution’s … Continue reading →

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French air force fighter pilot shares the lingo (Rousse)

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I was a fighter pilot in the French air force. One sunny afternoon I went for a wander through the grounds of a stately home in the south of England. An Arabic woman in army fatigues approached me and asked … Continue reading →

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A level English exam worries (Rousse)

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Dreamaticus

It was only a couple of weeks until the A level English exam, yet I had only read one of the books. What would be more shameful: to cancel the resit, or take it and risk an even lower grade … Continue reading →

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