Tag Archives: retirement

A helicopter ride and Prince William’s patchwork Harris Tweed flat cap (Rousse)

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Dreamaticus

The big treat at BR’s decade-late retirement party was a helicopter ride for his closest colleagues. Since I’d worked with him for a decade and a half from the late 1990s until mid twenty-teens, I was welcomed aboard as one … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beanie, cast-off, coin, Duke of Sussex, helicopter, office, passenger, Prince Harry, Prince of Wales, Prince William, retirement, scream, shriek | Leave a comment

John Humphrys’ retirement celebrations with Bernard Cribbins (Rousse)

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Dreamaticus

John Humphrys spent much time chatting to me at his retirement party. He posed for a photograph with me and my American PhD students. They had no idea of his identity. I also spotted Bernard Cribbins amongst the guests. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American, Bernard Cribbins, celebration, John Humphrys, party, PhD, retirement, student, unknown | Leave a comment

A purple kitchen with an excess of kale (Rousse)

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Dreamaticus

On the spur of the moment we called in on R and SL. SL was particularly delighted to see us, mistakenly thinking that our friend in tow (KA) was our niece AF. While I admired their modern purple kitchen, SL … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged friend, kale, kitchen, niece, purple, retirement | Leave a comment

Marriage and goat’s milk mayhem (Rousse)

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Dreamaticus

I was shocked when I learnt that JC had moved back in with her parents after her marriage to GC came to a sudden end. This was nothing, however, to my dismay and desperation when TPR calmly announced that his … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged book, broadcast, divorce, goat, library, marriage, milk, outside, presenter, recording, retirement, Today, TPR, women | Leave a comment

Sacked Canadian soap actress is surprise guest at own retirement party (Rousse)

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Dreamaticus

The out of work actress was a mutual friend of my cousins N and DT. Until recently she played a regular role in a Canadian television soap, but in the past couple of months her character had been written out … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged actress, audience, book, Canadian, character, fire, friend, guest, opera, out of work, party, producer, ramp, random, retirement, return, sack, screen, script, show, soap, Stockton-on-Tees, television | Leave a comment

Windfall for Scottish bed and breakfast owners (Rousse)

Posted on January 7, 2017 by Dreamaticus

Under a Scottish Enterprise scheme established in the 1980s, on retirement bed and breakfast proprietors across Scotland could sell their businesses back to the Scottish Government for huge sums of money. Our friends on the Isle of Lewis were very … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1980s, bed, breakfast, business, friend, government, Isle of Lewis, money, opportunity, owner, retirement, scheme, Scotland, Scottish, Scottish Enterprise, sell, sum, windfall | Leave a comment

A trip to Manchester by ski lift (Rousse)

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I travelled to Manchester by ski lift for him to come out of retirement and take on a short-term consultancy project. It was very odd to see him dressed in a suit once more.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged consultancy, dress, lift, Manchester, project, retirement, ski, ski-lift, suit, travel, trip | Leave a comment

A tempting offer to come out of retirement (Rousse)

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Dreamaticus

I picked up the call on TPR’s mobile. It was his old boss. ‘Keith Falconer’s left the company and I need a quick replacement’ he said. ‘I’m willing to pay £33k for a one year contract. Do you think TPR … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boss, call, company, contract, duties, mobile, offer, phone, replacement, retirement, tempt, TPR | Leave a comment

Wimbledon tennis star happy in retirement (Rousse)

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Dreamaticus

The two international tennis superstars squealed with joy when they saw me. “We’ll never forget your performance in the semi-final at Wimbledon 2013” said Charlotte as Natalia covered me with kisses. “Do you ever think of coming out of retirement?” … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, court, crash, final, fluke, international, joy, kiss, performance, racket, recquet, retire, retirement, round, run, season, semi-final, star, superstar, tournament, Wombledon, women | Leave a comment

News of sex scandal ‘of BBC proportions’ breaks at British university (Rousse)

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Dreamaticus

BD and I were dealing with a wee dilemma. Our colleague X was doing the rounds asking for sponsorship. Meanwhile we needed to approach the same people to gather contributions to X’s retirement present. We feared that few people would … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accusation, amle, BBC, British, colleague, dilemma, give, jimmy savile, malpractice, news, present, retirement, scandal, senior, sex, sponsorship, student, university | Leave a comment