Tag Archives: friend

A mother on horseback and men holding hands (Rousse)

This I had to see: my mother on horseback. From a distance I observed that my sister was leading the two-horse hack, encouraging mother to whip her steed into action. The horses broke into a trot. Almost immediately my mother … Continue reading →

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Dinner party distractions (Rousse)

TPR interfered with my cooking arrangements so now all the plans for the dinner party had gone awry. He even let a plastic spatula melt in a saucepan. Meanwhile JLW wasn’t doing much better at setting the table for 16 … Continue reading →

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A dangerous friend (Rousse)

My friend created an elaborate shelving unit by balancing blocks of wood upright on bare planks. As might be expected, it fell apart the moment that it was nudged. Then one day the same friend took us swimming in a … Continue reading →

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How to throw out a husband who will not leave (Rousse)

My school friend AL had been living for some time with her family in an old hotel. They had never bothered to convert the building, so there was still an institutional feel around the place. When I first arrived, AL … Continue reading →

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Television time delayed due to water allergy (Rousse)

My sister JMH and brother-in-law had added another extension to their house. This was an enormous bathroom off the kitchen. Its ‘walls’ were made of canvas and decorated with swirly orange 1970s patterns. In the kitchen itself they had installed … Continue reading →

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Staying with friends during house renovations, and a parsnip cheese (Rousse)

While their flat was being renovated BM and RG initially stayed with MSB and DB, but now it was our turn to play host. We didn’t have much space for them because there were many others also in residence at … Continue reading →

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An Australian temptress (Rousse)

An Australian woman called Helen started spending a lot of time with KT and JH. At first we thought that she was just a friend of the couple, but on the day that JH banned me from joining him on … Continue reading →

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Windfall for Scottish bed and breakfast owners (Rousse)

Under a Scottish Enterprise scheme established in the 1980s, on retirement bed and breakfast proprietors across Scotland could sell their businesses back to the Scottish Government for huge sums of money. Our friends on the Isle of Lewis were very … Continue reading →

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Simon Le Bon and Duran Duran play Birmingham University reunion

I sat next to Simon Le Bon – and opposite Nick Rhodes and John Taylor – in a club with other former classmates following Duran Duran’s performance at our University reunion. Simon feigned attention in my tale about a friend … Continue reading →

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A Tartan Pole (Rousse)

The first person that I came across upstairs at the White House was a sulky half-naked teenage Polish friend of my nephew. I was appalled that she barely greeted me when we passed one another in the upstairs hall. When … Continue reading →

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