Tag Archives: lecture

Rousse reviews a package holiday in Puerto Rico

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Puerto Rico was such a dump. I was so relieved that we hadn’t suggested we come here on holiday with my Canadian cousins at Easter. Unfortunately though, we were still stuck in the shabby resort for a week and would … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged all-inclusive, beach, boss, Canadian, chairs, classroom, cousins, dump, Easter, explore, hall, hand, holiday, lecture, lecturer, photographs, plastic, Puerto Rico, resort, restaurants, reviews, sea, shabby, shingle, sit, site, small, speaker, temperature, tweet, vacation, web, website, week, whisper | Leave a comment

1980s fashion disaster looks forward to her birthday (Rousse)

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Dreamaticus

On a Tuesday morning in 1984 I wore a stretchy yellow mini skirt over black and grey hooped tights for our first lecture of the day (linguistics). Seated in the lecture theatre with my fellow undergraduates, I pretended that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1984, birthday, disaster, fashion, lecture, Leeds, linguistics, mini, skirt, stretchy, students, surprise, theatre, tights, undergraduates, yellow | Leave a comment

But is it art? Ride the purple flume and admire a stick of celery at the Baltic (Rousse)

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I launched myself into the purple flume with no idea of what I would land in or on at the bottom. My eventual destination turned out to be an art exhibition at the Baltic curated by staff from Northumbria University. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, badge, Baltic, bead, celery, chairs, exhibition, flume, Gateshead, glass, green, identity, lecture, name badge, New York, Newcastle, Northumbria, Northumbria University, photography, pin, presentation, purple, space, speaker, star, stick, woman | Leave a comment

A tandem upgrade and trying twins (Rousse)

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I peered out of the car window to the left and gazed up at the faded wooden sign. In peeling red and green paint, it advertised a long defunct fishmonger. Just here, where we were now queuing in traffic, there … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acquaintance, acquaintances, audience, bicycle, bike, birthday, blonde, car, clue, clues, cycle, dead, driver, driving, Dundas Street, frame, friend, Friends, girls, green, identical, lecture, lights, market, paint, parent, parents, passenger, passengers, photograph, queue, red, seat, sign, tandem, TPR, traffic, transport, treat, twin, twins, upgrade, window, wood | Leave a comment

A kiss for David Baddiel (Rousse)

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I was delighted when David Baddiel shouted over from the sofa that TPR should stop complaining and get on with his duties. All I had requested was some help in finding the two tiny screws to reattach the arms of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged back, complain, David Baddiel, duties, duty, floor, frame, glasses, hero, kiss, lecture, lips, retired, screw, screws, sofa, spectacles, Thursday, TPR | Leave a comment

Melvyn Bragg’s editor, boasts about the Sound of Music, and other distractions keep Rousse away from class

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Now that it was December I no longer objected to the Christmas displays in the shops. I was even becoming more tolerant of the members of the sect who queued up every day in their drab black uniforms for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged camera, campus, Christmas, church, cinema, class, colleague, country, December, Dee, editor, freelance, guest, job, lecture, Melvyn Bragg, Radio 4, religion, River Dee, sect, Shetland, sound of music, students, teaching, term, Thursday, town, TPR, tyranny, undergraduates, uniform, uniforms | Leave a comment

Rowan Atkinson secrets overheard in hotel lift (Rousse)

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Dreamaticus

After months of planning, the day of my conference finally arrived. A little behind schedule, I popped into the hotel dining room to see who else had made it to breakfast. A surprising number of delegates were there, the majority … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged apologies, bag, bedroom, breakfast, centre, conference, corridor, delegates, dining, drunk, escalator, guard, hall, handbag, hotel, hung over, keynote, lecture, lift, mobile, paternoster, Prosecco, room, Rowan Atkinson, security, sessions, staircase, theatre | Leave a comment

Voodoo academic claims end to African famine (Rousse)

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Dreamaticus

“Prior to the agrarian revolution…” boomed the pompous voice across the lecture hall. We were supposed be celebrating my birthday with tea and cake, but instead were forced to listen to this overblown academic drone on and on and on, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, Africa, African, agrarian, argument, birthday, book, cake, desk, famine, hall, lecture, photo, photograph, portrait, research, revolution, stamp, stamping, tea, voice, voodoo | Leave a comment

Rousse’s killer presentation

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Dreamaticus

CO gave me a last friendly pat on the back for good luck as we negotiated the final set of stairs to the lecture hall. This was it then. It was finally time for me to deliver the closing keynote … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged America, anecdotes, asides, audience, back, career, crowd, dead, disaster, failure, good, hall, jokes, killer, lecture, luck, microphone, pat, performance, presentation, rehearsals, sla, stage, stairs, TPR, US | Leave a comment

Planning a party and pilfering pains au chocolat (Rousse)

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Dreamaticus

The venue asked us to make some decisions for our afternoon of celebration: would we prefer the chairs to be set out theatre or cabaret style, and when would we like tea and cake to be served – before or … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, bag, bags, cabaret, cake, campus, celebration, chair, chairs, death, funeral, janitor, lecture, pain au chocolat, pains au chocolat, performance, reception, record, records, Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, shopping, stereo, tea, theatre, turntable, venue, vinyl, volunteer, volunteers | Leave a comment