Tag Archives: father

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

Marcus Brigstocke tour takes in the stationers (Rousse)

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Marcus Brigstocke had set the exam paper so it was only natural that it was also he who accompanied me and my sister J to the stationers. Here we would purchase some scrap paper on which I could plan my … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1980s, answers, bedroom, Boulevard St Michel, buy, exam, father, France, French, fridge, Gibert Jeune, grandpa, hand, hospital, literature, Marcus Brigstocke, pantry, paper, Paris, pay, purchase, scrap, sister, stationer's, Stockton-on-Tees, tour, undergraduate, upstairs, White House | Leave a comment

Corbridge attracts Texan property investor (Rousse)

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Dreamaticus

As my father cycled at full pelt up the hill he explained that two very astute business women had bought up most of the residential property in the pretty Northumbrian village of Corbridge. The first was my mother. The second … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bike, business, Corbridge, cycle, father, hill, investor, mother, Northumberland, property, residential, Texan, village, wealthy, women | Leave a comment

Andrew Lawrence, the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, a stranded bride, and the ruler of the universe (Rousse)

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We headed up the M6, keen to reach our destination in time to take part in the 10k race, my final exams, and the graduation ceremony. We were grateful not to be travelling in the opposite direction. A light aircraft … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 10k, accident, admin, aircraft, Andrew Lawrence, assistant, astronomical, Birmingham University, bride, carriageway, ceremony, cold, comedian, crash, diagnosis, driving, Edinburgh, exam, examination, examinations, exams, father, finals, glands, gown, gownless, graduate, graduation, guard, hall robe, lane, lunch, M6, medical, motorway, office, open air, paper, performance, plane, platform, puppet, race, revision, robes, Rolls Royce, ruler of the universe, sandwich, Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, security, show, silk, silver, stage, stars, student, swollen, tailback, textbook, trainers, treatment, university, University of Birmingham, vet, vintage, wedding, worry | Leave a comment

Changes in the marine environment to suit a red-haired mermaid (Rousse)

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We were coming to the end of an uneventful family holiday. On the morning of our last full day away I bounced out of the big shared family bed and asked my little sister (aged 12) whether she would like … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged attraction, attractions, bed, bedclothes, canvas, comb, combing, cut-out, cut-outs, Edinburgh, environment, family, father, first, hair, holiday, home, MacBook, Marine, mermaid, nude, painting, picture, present, red-haired, rock, scenes, second, semi-naked, sister, sleep, space, underwater, wall, work | Leave a comment

An undesirable neighbour (Rousse)

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We moved back to Birmingham into a large Victorian house on a busy road. Our new next door neighbour wore a long dark beard and kept his hair tied up in a black turban. He told us that he was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged attack, Birmingham, boat, boats, bread, business, canal, car, car park, cook, crane, cranes, dirt, father, filth, house, inherit, Korea, neighbour, neighbourhood, neighbours, office, parking, physical, potatoes, rental, road, roof, turban, undesirable, Victorian | Leave a comment

Congratulations to the one-legged widower father of the bride (Rousse)

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My one-legged widowed father had done a fabulous job preparing the house for my sister’s wedding. With the help of a woman from the village, he’d set up three mini-dormitories so that all the guests who had decided to stay … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, bride, congratulate, congratulations, daughters, dormitories, dormitory, father, guest, guests, job, one-legged, overnight, sister, stranger, village, wedding, widower, woman | Leave a comment

Smuggling sisters in the ‘bag for life’ mystery (Belle)

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Dreamaticus

As the lift door opened my father rushed out and shoved two plastic ‘bags for life’ towards us – one each for my sister and me. “You must smuggle these out of here” he said, before rushing off across the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bag for life, bed, cash, father, hotel, lift, lobby, shower, sister, Switzerland, wardrobe | Leave a comment

Camera software update problems (Rousse)

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Dawn was breaking when I heard the strange noises outside. I drew the curtains and opened the shutters to investigate. Our garden had transformed into an urban wildlife park. My father was there playing the role of zoo keeper, busy … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bird, birds, camera, curtains, dawn, disaster, father, garden, grain, hedgehog, hedgehogs, keeper, kitchen, memory, noise, noises, park, photographs, photos, pocket, pockets, screen. softw, shot. shots, shutters, squirrel, squirrels, urban, wildlife, zoo | Leave a comment

Rousse’s new job

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I’d never before applied for an academic job where all short-listed candidates were interviewed together. The panel comprised two well-respected academics: the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of an English university, who – quite out of character – had turned bad cop for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academia, academic, academics, art, bacon, bad cop, boss, campus, candidates, Chinese, Christmas, competition, dilemma, dining room, driving, family, father, Friends, Glasgow, Glasgow University, Heriot-Watt, interview, job, kitchen, leadership, Manchester, mother, niece, panel, position, post, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, questions, resignation, romantic, short list, short-listed, Stockton-on-Tees, stuffing, turkey, university, University of Glasgow, Victorian, White House | Leave a comment