Tag Archives: French

Big changes at the University of Birmingham (Rousse)

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Dreamaticus

Childhood friends SB and KH met me in Birmingham to scope out venues for next year’s university reunion. We were in for a shock when we reached the University of Birmingham campus. The French department was completely unrecognisable. The corridors … Continue reading →

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Aristotle, Shakespeare, Pirandello, Henry IV – and a shop for sale in Stirchley (Rousse)

Posted on November 8, 2024 by Dreamaticus

The university reunion in Birmingham was a very dull affair, attracting only the quietest of my former classmates. I eventually managed to persuade JG into a conversation. She spoke of her preference for the study of Latin and Greek over … Continue reading →

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Lost in the Paris RER (Rousse)

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dreamaticus

I lost TPR and LF in the maze of a Paris RER station on our way back to the main venue of the incentive holiday.  When they boarded the train heading in the right direction, I went the opposite way. … Continue reading →

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A diet that really works (Rousse)

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Dreamaticus

My sister J had joked that she had been eating cardboard in an attempt to lose weight. Now that I saw her again in the flesh, she admitted that her new slim form was thanks to a recipe for offal … Continue reading →

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Fear of the French past historic tense (Rousse)

Posted on September 17, 2023 by Dreamaticus

This was a University reunion with a difference: as part of the ‘celebrations’, we were all to sit the final year French essay exam. How could I possibly do this? The only graduates capable of such a feat would be … Continue reading →

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New miniature railway attraction in formal French garden at Uig Sands (Rousse)

Posted on August 6, 2023 by Dreamaticus

The proprietor of the bed and breakfast was just as surprised as we were to find a formal French garden, complete with a miniature railway, laid out between his guest house and the vast beach of Uig Sands.

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Dressing secrets of the French royal family (Rousse)

Posted on April 18, 2023 by Dreamaticus

The curator passed me the tiny fitted eighteenth century jacket. The solid gold buttons, along with the hand-stitched trimmings in precious threads, stood out against the beautiful dark blue velvet. ‘Check the silver embroidery on the seam of the sleeve’, … Continue reading →

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Sheffield trains and brothels (Rousse)

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Dreamaticus

A tall French woman in a long white cotton dress stood perplexed on a platform at Edinburgh Waverley railway station. When I offered to help her, she held up her phone to me to display her train ticket. She complained … Continue reading →

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A hat trick of PhDs (Rousse)

Posted on January 15, 2022 by Dreamaticus

Not to be outdone, two of my three flatmates from my undergraduate final year embarked on doctoral studies. Soon all three of us would all hold a PhDs: mine in Computing, SL’s in education, and HW’s on obscure French philosophy.

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Failing your finals (Rousse)

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Dreamaticus

I met old university classmates KH and SB for a cup of tea in the Scotsman Hotel before they left Edinburgh. SB confessed that – like me – she had not been attending the final year classes of our French … Continue reading →

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