Tag Archives: mother

Adventures with a Ford Granada (Rousse)

Posted on July 8, 2025 by Dreamaticus

I took my mother’s car keys without her knowledge and set off in the Granada to the meeting at the Royal Society of Edinburgh. I followed the car in front, stupidly assuming that the driver was also heading in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A lost baby, a father risen from the dead, drug addicts, and an unlicensed driver (Rousse)

Posted on June 7, 2025 by Dreamaticus

‘Wake up! Wake up!’ I screamed at my mother in the bed next to mine. ‘Naomi’s baby has vanished!’ I made such a noise that I literally woke my father from the dead. When I noticed his corpse stir at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Riding a water envelope is more fun than house clearing and lecturing (Rousse)

Posted on March 7, 2025 by Dreamaticus

When we were recalled to my parents’ house to finish the clearing job, we admired the garden in the beautiful spring sunshine. Our progress was slow, especially because all the utilities had been disconnected. Even the simplest of tasks, such … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Shamed at a Newcastle University seminar (Rousse)

Posted on February 23, 2025 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I travelled to Newcastle for two visits to my mother in her care home. Between the visits, TPR consulted physics text books in Newcastle University library, then we both attended a research seminar in the School of Fine … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Oxford University cheat (Rousse)

Posted on January 10, 2025 by Dreamaticus

HVJ’s father passed on the telephone message. ‘Your daughter N is struggling with a final year essay. Please could you help?’ I couldn’t believe that it had come to this: Oxford undergraduates using their mothers as ghost writers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Royal family advisor also offers careers advice and cares for a new baby (Rousse)

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Dreamaticus

Queen Consort Camilla was easily pleased with packs and packs of Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes. Prince Philip (not dead) was a more tricky customer. He suddenly remembered a family that lived on a remote ranch in the mid-west of the United … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Problematic property purchase prompts panic attack (Rousse)

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Dreamaticus

My sister-in-law SG led us along the drive to the new house. ‘This is the piece of land that caused us so much hassle with the National Trust’ she explained. We entered the house through the side door. The first … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A burglar’s furniture fetish (Rousse)

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Dreamaticus

Every time that I walked into the sitting room, the two sofas were arranged in a different way from before: both pushed against the window; one upside down, one upright; one next to the radiator the right way up, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Passion with a potter (Rousse)

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Dreamaticus

What a shock! I remembered the woman called Poppy, and the man who ran a pottery. They had been friends of my mother in the 1960s. However, I had no idea that for a period of my early childhood my … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment