Tag Archives: home

Greeted by a huge sawn-off-at-the-shoulder bloodied arm (Rousse)

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Dreamaticus

Both my mother and TPR were released from their respective care homes for the day. My mother was in particularly fine fettle. She was able to keep up with my father’s walking pace – albeit at a distance – and … Continue reading →

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The care home ‘death routine’ (Rousse)

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Dreamaticus

Although my mother was still alive and well, the care home staff convinced me to participate in a dry-run of their ‘death routine’. A carer showed me into a small room that contained a low, blue plastic platform. ‘This is … Continue reading →

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Care home pros and cons (Rousse)

Posted on March 29, 2025 by Dreamaticus

The care home had its attractions. My favourite activity – for residents and visitors alike – was to leap with the others into a field of soft, waist-high, broad-bladed grass. However, the broken blue and white crockery in the galley … Continue reading →

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Chilled illicit love (Rousse)

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Dreamaticus

The hideous truth was that members of staff were meeting for trysts inside the care home mortuary refrigeration unit.

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Dawn French presides over Irish-Spanish wedding in private chapel of stately home (Rousse)

Posted on September 15, 2024 by Dreamaticus

My in-laws held back the early morning visitors to their stately home while their staff vacuumed the Persian rugs. Meanwhile Dawn French, dressed in all her Vicar of Dibley garb, was busy setting up the private chapel for a wedding … Continue reading →

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House clearance woes (Rousse)

Posted on July 28, 2024 by Dreamaticus

We truly believed that our days of house clearance were over. So we were all shocked when my brother-in-law and I unearthed yet more (mainly) junk hidden in an alcove of my childhood home. My brother-in-law took a fancy to … Continue reading →

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Stitching scarves and a super-rich stranger (Rousse)

Posted on June 22, 2024 by Dreamaticus

I took advantage of the stately home’s in-house sewing team and handed over my enormous scarf with the request that it be cut down to a manageable size. When I came to the end of the self-guided tour of the … Continue reading →

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Top meeting venue (Rousse)

Posted on December 17, 2023 by Dreamaticus

I thought that my childhood home had been abandoned, but now I found that various committees considered it a top venue for their gatherings. A woman asked me directions to the room for her next meeting. I ignored her. All … Continue reading →

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Holiday home pros and cons (Rousse)

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Dreamaticus

At the top of the hill, I jumped off the bike and passed it to PMF. This was because I was too scared to negotiate the steep incline on the other side. He would ride, and I would run behind … Continue reading →

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Monkey in a motorhome (Rousse)

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Dreamaticus

With my sister at the wheel of our motorhome, we were driving south through France to the drop off my niece A and her partner D at a ski resort. It was a wonder that we weren’t killed en route. … Continue reading →

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