Tag Archives: Italian

Italian Scrabble (Rousse)

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Dreamaticus

Finally, an Italian version of the popular word game Scrabble was released. Its format was a little different from ‘classic’ Scrabble, with raised yellow boxes on the board that offered the start of Italian words. Since the endings of Italian … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged board, game, Italian, Scrabble | Leave a comment

A polyglot and a primate (Rousse)

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Dreamaticus

TPR threatened to accompany me to the ball naked. Happily, instead, he dressed in his dinner suit. However, he did have a big surprise for me. He had rounded up my two best friends from undergraduate days (HJ and SL) … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ball, child, French, German, hat, hotel, Italian, Latin, monkey, naked, party, polyglot, primate, Spanish | Leave a comment

A dip in the cold (Rousse)

Posted on December 6, 2018 by Dreamaticus

I was telling my sister an elaborate tale of undergraduate risk (how could I ever have been so stupid?) as we approached the beautiful Italian swimming pool. I was not tempted to take a dip – it was far too … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cold, dip, Italian, Italy, pool, sister, swimming, water | Leave a comment

A clown, killer whales, and curvy bronzed buttocks (Rousse)

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Dreamaticus

Thirty years on I rediscovered the dark-haired Italian man with whom I had been friendly in France in the 1980s. Now working as a professional clown, he lived on the French riviera in a small apartment that offered wonderful views of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1980s, apartment, attire, black, bronzed, buttock, clown, denim, dress, fashion, France, French, g-string, Italian, killer, lecture, man, mediterranean, nylon, playful, riviera, Royal Society of Edinburgh, shorts, splash, theatre, view, water, whale | Leave a comment

A Canadian in the UK (Rousse)

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Dreamaticus

My extremely tall, dark, handsome Canadian cousin was living in the UK with his Italian girlfriend and her two children. One day I had a go at being as tall as my cousin. I discovered all the inconveniences that extra … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Canadian, children, cousin, dark, girlfriend, handsome, inconvenience, Italian, tall, UK | Leave a comment

Meeting a metal-framed monarch mother at the New York mausoleum (Rousse)

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Dreamaticus

I was auditioning for the role of mistress of an American millionaire. A small Jewish Italian New Yorker appeared to have taken a fancy to me so I did my best to impress him by spending the afternoon with his … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American, blue, British, cage, calorie, car, children, chocolate, clothing, commentary, department, Elizabeth, frame, funeral, glory, grandmother, granny, hat, impress, Italian, Jew, journey, knickerbocker, knitting, mausoleum, metal, millionaire, mistress, mother, mourn, navy, needle, preparation, Queen, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Mother, reassurance, rib, rod, stay, store, sweet, verbal | Leave a comment

Star Trek Voyager’s Neelix and Kes moonlight as fake holiday guests (Rousse)

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Dreamaticus

‘What a coincidence!’ cried TPR in the dining room of our holiday resort. At first I thought that he had recognised an old work colleague, but when we approached the table I saw that his quarry was Neelix and Kes … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arrival, beard, befriend, charcater, coincidence, colleague, David, drawing, Ethan Phillips, evaluation, fake, fisherman, form, friendship, girlfriend, guest, holiday, holiday-makers, Italian, Jennifer Lien, Kes, moonlight, Neelix, package, professional, quarry, resort, sun, table, TPR, Voyager, work | Leave a comment

Ineffective Italian lessons (Rousse)

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Dreamaticus

JC and I sat at the dinner table desperate to join in the conversation across the room. An Italian mother was making a hopeless attempt to teach her native language to her English-speaking children. Both JC and I could do … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged attempt, children, conversation, dinner, English, Italian, job, language, lesson, mother, native, table | Leave a comment

Bedsit Bernard (Rousse)

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Dreamaticus

I agreed to take on a fellow academic from another institution as my PhD student. He had told everyone that his name was Bernard, but I knew that he was really an Italian national and, as such, his real name … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, attic, Bernard, besit, computer, doctoral, instructions, Italian, PhD, student, studies | Leave a comment

Over the Archers’ paving stones for an aborted walk to the beach (Rousse)

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Dreamaticus

GB had struggled to find a couple of pals who were willing to walk all the way over the far hills to the remote beach so was delighted when she thought that KA and I could accompany her. I was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Abbey Hill, aborted, Archers, beach, busy, butterfly, cherry. cherries, class, colleague, cream, David Archer, diet, hill, Italian, loss, mind, pal, pals, paving, restaurant, roadside, Ruth Archer, stones, strawberries, strawberry, walk, weight | Leave a comment