Tag Archives: family

Coping with Canadian weather and dangerous dogs (Rousse)

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We learnt about the extremes of Canadian weather during our family touring holiday. One moment we were watching entire islands being swept along an immense broad valley in meltwater floods. The next we were struggling to drive over roads sealed … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged airport, beach, bearings, Canadian, car, cope, coping, danger, dangerous, direction, dog, dogs, family, father, flight, flood, holiday, ice, island, islands, Jack Russell, lost, meltwater, Pitlochry, road, Rockies, salt, sand, sandy, Scottish, settlement, sunshine, teeth, terrier, terriers, Toronto, touring, vacation, valley, weather, wilderness, windows, woman, yellow | Leave a comment

Christmas in the Highlands – Goldilocks style (Rousse)

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I was fast asleep next to TPR in the main bedroom of our cottage in Perthshire when the noise awoke us at 02:00. Did we see faces at the window, or was the commotion coming from the floor below? We … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accommodation, asleep, £1000, B&B, baby, bacon, bear, bed and breakfast, bedroom, below, book, brave, Christmas, commotion, cook, cottage, downstairs, eat, eggs, episode, faces, family, festive, floor, food, fry-up, Goldilocks, highlands, informant, Jenners, laps, laundry, London, mother, negotiate, owe, Perthshire, pink, rate, room, season, sitting, sleep, son, stay, stocking, stockings, teddy, teddy bear, toy, toys, vacant, village, window | Leave a comment

Harry Potter tattoos: the only clue to “Pedro’s” past (Rousse)

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I lost TPR during the final stage of the long journey to the US aboard an ocean liner. Occasionally I would spot him in the distance across deck, usually driving one of the small open cars used for deliveries by … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged America, authenticity, baby, body art, boot, car, cars, child, clue, companion, complexion, confront, deck, deliveries, delivery, disguise, driver, Edinburgh, family, George Heriot's School, Harry Potter, hide, Hogwarts, illegal, image, immigrant, JK Rowling, journey, labour, Latin, liner, lose, lost, Mexican, moustache, muscle, ocean, past, Pedro, questions, Scotland, seat, ship, silver, skinny, staff, tan, tattoo, tattoos, trap, US | Leave a comment

A posh yacht passenger and a PhD (Rousse)

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I ran up to the deck when I heard that the CalMac ferry was stopping in the Minch to collect the dirty washing from a posh yacht. Helpful as ever, I lent a hand to winch the bundle of clothes … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged adventure, baording school, Billingham, blue-eyed, bundle, Calmac, captain, children, crew, dirty, examiner, external, family, ginger, guest, ICI, land, Minch, Mrs Crawford, passenger, passengers, Perth, PhD, posh, red-head, rigging, Teesside, thesis, TPR, travel, twin, undergraduate, unprofessional, vessel, washing, waves, winch, work, yacht | Leave a comment

Hugh Grant lookalike cited in affair accusations (Rousse)

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I tried to work out why TPR and I were staying in this business hotel by peering at the badges of the other guests. One man appeared to be “the friendliest of the friendly”. This didn’t help, other than suggest … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accusation, accusations, affair, appeal, aunt, aunties, aunts, badge, badges, bathroom, black, blame, business, case, child, court, cult, family, friendly, Fringe, golden, guest, guests, hair, hotel, Hugh Grant, husband, locks, look, lookalike, niece, raven, room, shock, suggestion, thick, town, TPR, unrecognisable, wash, worry | Leave a comment

Unwise words and a Christmas tragedy on the Thames (Rousse)

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

“How awful that your daughter-in-law’s father is a crook, and that her mother is a burnt-to-a-crisp, over-tanned, airhead shopaholic!” said N. More awful was that she uttered these words while (unknowingly) sitting right next to the daughter-in-law in question. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accident, airhead, balcony, bar, Birmingham, blood, boatman, car, catch, celebrate, celebration, celebrations, Christmas, city, colleagues, crook, daughter-in-law, death, die, drink, drive, drown, fall, family, faux pas, invitation, jelly beans, jetty, ladder, London, motorboat, motorboats, neck, party, pub, red, shopaholic, skyline, slip, students, tan, Thames, toilets, tragedy, water, wine bar | Leave a comment

Family fun outdoors (Rousse)

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I rode with my family in an open train carriage across the wide salmon river. It had been an eventful day: my middle sister had taken my little sister to the hospital for an operation that she claimed to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aunt, canyon, carriage, family, fun, funeral, grandmother, granny, hospital, leap, level, operation, outdoors, river, salmon, silver, sister, sisters, skirt, split, stay-up, stockings, taffetta, train, water | Leave a comment

A cholera expert in the family (Rousse)

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My sister S was a world-leading authority on cholera.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged authority, cholera, disease, expert, family, sister | Leave a comment

New CalMac service covers land and sea (Rousse)

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We caught the new CalMac service that travelled to the Outer Hebrides via Hexham. It was a very special boat that could cover both land and sea. I very much enjoyed riding along beside the dolphins, even though trying to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boat, Caledonian Ma, Calmac, camera, Darlington Road, dolphin, dolphins, drama, Edinburgh, Elmwood, family, fete, film, garden fete, Hexham, historical, land, Leith Walk, north, Outer Hebrides, photograph, ride, route, Scotland, sea, seat, Stockton, Stockton-on-Tees | Leave a comment

A visit to (the other) Cardiff Castle (Rousse)

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I walked barefoot in my purple fleece pyjamas all the way to Cardiff. There I found the secret lane to the J family’s castle. The muddy track was littered with loose change that had been discarded by NJ’s teenage partying … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged barefoot, Cardiff, castle, change, edifice, family, fleece, Friends, granite, gym, house, lane, party, purple, pyjamas, secret, teenage, track, visit | Leave a comment