Tag Archives: house

North Sea tsunami hits land north of Aberdeen (Rousse)

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Dreamaticus

TPR, His mother, his sister S, CM and I watched in amazement as the huge tsunami rushed in from the North Sea. It hit the coast just north of Aberdeen. When the first wave crashed into the town house garden … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aberdeen, amazement, barbecue, calm, camera, coast, flat, fling, furniture, garden, hit, house, kitchen, land, loungers, magical, mother, mountains, north, North Sea, sea, sister, town house, tsunami, Uig sands, vantage, view, washing line, water, wave, west, window | Leave a comment

Parking problems in Leith (Rousse)

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Dreamaticus

TPR had now collected two parking tickets for illegally leaving his car in a metered space outside J and K’s house in Leith – and he couldn’t care less.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged care, house, Leith, meter, metre, parking, ticket, tickets | Leave a comment

Luxury yellow bathroom is no substitute for missing wife (Rousse)

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Now that it was the fashion to return to university to repeat your first degree, I found myself back at the University of Birmingham reading French. However, by the end of first year I was struggling to study and hold … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged absence, bathroom, Birmingham University, clutter, degree, Edinburgh, French, home, house, job, lonely, luxury, missing, student, study, substitute, TPR, university, University of Birmingham, wife, yellow | Leave a comment

Sorting sleeping arrangements for house guests (Rousse)

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My parents had only been in the house for 12 months and already it was looking shabby. I almost tripped over the split lino as I ran upstairs to check who was sleeping where. If we weren’t careful, we would … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accommodation, alcohol, attic, bed, bedroom, beds, crisis, daughter, daughters, double, friend, guest, guests, house, lino, Lucy, mark, pal, parents, party, shabby, single, sleep, sleeping, staircase, stairs, TPR, university | Leave a comment

A visit to (the other) Cardiff Castle (Rousse)

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I walked barefoot in my purple fleece pyjamas all the way to Cardiff. There I found the secret lane to the J family’s castle. The muddy track was littered with loose change that had been discarded by NJ’s teenage partying … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged barefoot, Cardiff, castle, change, edifice, family, fleece, Friends, granite, gym, house, lane, party, purple, pyjamas, secret, teenage, track, visit | Leave a comment

A polite Newcastle audience (Rousse)

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Dreamaticus

After spending the night at JM ‘s house, I delivered a guest lecture at Northumbria University. Everyone was terribly friendly, listened intently, and kindly ignored my orange stained pale blue suit.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged friendly, guest, house, ignore, lecture, listen, Newcastle, night, Northumbria, Orange, pale blue, stain, suit, university | Leave a comment

Antiquarian book collecting for beginners (Rousse)

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Each morning we swam with seals. RI would join us, provided that he had not stayed out too late the night before on “tom cat” excursions. In the afternoons we liked to vary our activities. Today OC took us to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged a catalogue, activities, afternoon, antiquarian, beginners, binding, book, books, British Library, cartoon, charity, Christmas, church, collect, collecting, collection, donation, drawing room, family, highlands, holiday, house, janitor, morning, nineteenth century, parents, photographs, pile, presents, rare, retire, seals. Late, stockings, swim, tarpaulin, theological, theology, Tom cat, treasure, venture, White House | Leave a comment

Rousse reviews the retired and retro

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Dreamaticus

“What a coincidence, Struther Arnott was here just yesterday”, I commented to Brian Lang as he took a seat on the big green sofa in our sitting room. “I wonder what it is with retired principals of St Andrews University? … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged appliance, appliances, Belling, Belling Compact Super Four electric cooker, Birmingham, Brian Lang, British Library, coincidence, colleague, colleagues, cooker, father-in-law, furniture, hand, hands, house, kitchen, marker, mural, noise, pen, pens, Principal, retired, retro, sitting room, smile, St Andrews, St Andrews University, Struther Arnott, TPR, unit, units, Vice Chancellor, workmen | Leave a comment

House renovation hints (Rousse)

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I moved into our new house. It was just up the road from our flat, so we’d still use the same shops and services. On two floors, it gave us a bit more space. The large bathroom was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged askance, bathroom, bathrooms, carpet, DIY, ensuite, flat, floors, hint, hints, house, noise, renovation, road, services, shops, space, tradesmen | Leave a comment

Top notch facilities at Isle of Lewis guest house (Rousse)

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The guest house on the Isle of Lewis offered upgraded facilities, including a beautiful marble block of changing rooms and toilets close to the beach, and giant butterfly-shaped kites to play with on the shore. Downstairs in the main house … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged access, beach, British Library, butterfly, card, changing rooms, dinner, facilities, French, friend, Friends, guest, guesthouse, holiday, house, Isle of Lewis, kite shore, library, makeover, marble, membership, soak, toilers, venue, wave, waves | Leave a comment