Tag Archives: fear

Fear of the dentist cured by beans (Rousse)

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Dreamaticus

We returned to our old dental practice, hoping that they would take us back. The elderly dentist ushered us into his premises through the tatty hall (littered with spent tissues and lumps of chewing gum). At the waiting room counter, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged TPR, hall, queue, dentist, counter, patient, cure, fear, December, chewing gum, beans, pulses, tissues | Leave a comment

Finals fear (Rousse)

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Dreamaticus

Two years later than expected – due to treatment for breast cancer – I was due to take my finals. However, I had not read the set texts, did not know the exam time or venue, the paper format was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged breast, cancer, exam, fear, finals, paper, PhD, student | Leave a comment

Brown Dubarry boot burglary (Rousse)

Posted on March 26, 2019 by Dreamaticus

All my fears were realised when it became obvious that a sneaky thief had stolen my brown Dubarry boots in a locker room switch. I blamed L, who had left the boots under a bench overnight. It was all too … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bench, boot, brown, burglary, counterfeit, Dubarry, fake, fear, locker, room, switch, thief | Leave a comment

Jo Jo the poison pen email writer pushes stressed academic over the edge (Rousse)

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Dreamaticus

I was in the habit of commuting by train to the headquarters of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in London. There I worked in the basement on an unending series of grant applications. From time to time … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1984, 1985, Abersystwyth University, academic, acusation, application, Ayr, basement, bid, bloody, break, Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, CILIP, crash, document, email, fall, family, favour, fear, frighten, grant, green, happy, home, identity, impudent, ingratiate, insult, iPhone, Jo, Jo Jo, March, miners, mother, Nokia, Orange, pen, Penelope Wrightman, phone, pointless, poisen, protest, pseudonym, reality, rude, safety, shiny, shorts, sister, spy, stairwell, stress, strike, suicide, T shirt, tears, temper, tiles, TPR, transport, Volvo, walk, white, woman, writer | Leave a comment

Bicycle thief Mr Almond’s attack (Rousse)

Posted on November 18, 2017 by Dreamaticus

Every time that we returned to our house there was further evidence of attempted break-ins. We knew that it was only a matter of time before we would come home to a crime scene. The day finally arrived when we … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1980s, accomplice, Almond, attack, attempt, attic, avenge, £50, baby, bicycle, bike, black, break-in, broken, burglar, crime, dark, door, dress, fat, fear, front, glass, green, hat, house, insult, man, middle-aged, notes, roof, scene, smash, spotty, thief, wad, wedding, window, woman | Leave a comment

Marcus Brigstocke takes to the stage with mother and daughter duo (Rousse)

Posted on August 21, 2016 by Dreamaticus

Marcus Brigstocke settled his mother and (possibly) his brother into seats in the front row, then took to the podium. ‘Gosh, he’s getting on a bit’, I thought, catching sight of his balding pate and observing his wider-than-last-time waistline. After … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bald, brother, chocolate, fear, follow, forehead, front, Marcus Brigstocke, mother, pate, patrol, podium, post-it, row, seat, stage, volunteer, waistline | Leave a comment

Naked housework, phone swapping, and Doctor Who accessories (Rousse)

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Dreamaticus

Naked, I tidied up my London flat. I moved slices of white bread from the first floor sitting room windowsill to the kitchen where they belonged. When I returned downstairs a fat woman brandishing a gun confronted me in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aborigine, accessory, Andy Pandy, apple, assistant, bar, boo, bracelet, brandish, bread, breakfast, change, coincidence, conference, conference paper, cover, curtains, deck, delegates, Doctor Who, downstairs, Dr Who, drag, dressing, event, exchange, expensive, face, fat, fear, flat, foundation, gown, grey, gun, hall, housework, introduce, kitchen, librarian, life, London, make-up, man, medical, metallic, mobile, naked, open, phone, pink, presentation, programme, protect, rail, risk, room, seat, seating, session, sitting, slice, slides, slim, sparkle, stats, suit, swap, text, tidy, timing, tummy, undressed, unhappy, upstairs, venue, visual aids, white, windowsill, woman, worry | Leave a comment

Fears of adult children emigrating (Rousse)

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Dreamaticus

“It’s your mother on the phone” shouted TPR from the far side of our US hotel bedroom. I took the call. My mother had rung to discover the real reason why I was spending so much time at the ‘other’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged adult, Atlantic, bedroom, call, Canada, child, children, conference, conversation, emigrate, father, fear, fears, forever, hotel, kid, kids, leave, mother, PhD, phone, presentation, sister, student, tone, TPR, voive | Leave a comment

Husband succumbs to long-legged charm of ski-ing partner (Rousse)

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Dreamaticus

I was not considered fit for for ski-ing so TPR took to the slopes with AP. Although I said that I was happy with this arrangement, in reality I was not. It was obvious that AP was after my husband, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Champagne, charm, fear, glasses, husband, legs, partner, ski, ski-ing, succumb, TPR | Leave a comment

Tsunami photograph (Rousse)

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Dreamaticus

TPR photographed the tsunami against the sunset with his iPad. I wanted to take over because he kept missing the peak of the wave. We both feared for the lives of those swimming in the bay.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bay, fear, iPad, live, peak, photograph, sunset, swim, tsunami, wave | Leave a comment