Tag Archives: security

An audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace (Rousse)

Posted on August 9, 2015 by Dreamaticus

By the time Granny H and I reached Buckingham Palace to interview the Queen my feet were terribly blistered from wearing the pale blue shoes. TPR had borrowed them a couple of days earlier to wear to DT’s party and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged appointment, audience, Belgian, blisters, blue, borrow, Buckingham Palace, busy, button, check-point, check-points, code, consulate, family, feet, floor, footwear, grandmother, granny, interview, invitation, letter, lift, mall, office, official, palace, party, Queen, questions, queue, queues, rent, room, rooms, royal, rub, second, security, shoe, shoes, shop, skin, space, stretch, tall, tender, time, TPR, wave | Leave a comment

Adding a second floor to a bungalow (Rousse)

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Dreamaticus

‘We need to get this car fixed’ I said to TPR as it juddered up Burnland Terrace in Hexham. I was embarrassed that SM was a passenger in our old Fiat Stilo, and witness to its poor performance. The problems … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged add, adding, bank, bedroom, Broadway Gardens, bungalow, Burnland Terrace, car, door, estate, family, Fiat, fix, floor, garage, garden, gardeners, Hexham, house, landscape, mansion, renovate, retire, roof, second, security, Stilo, TPR, upstairs, weeding | Leave a comment

A confused news report (Rousse)

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Dreamaticus

At first the news report gave the impression that there had been a terrorist attack at Heathrow Airport. In fact police had shot dead a terrorist infiltrator disguised as an airport security guard.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged airport, confused, dead, disguise, guard, Heathrow, infiltrator, London, news, police, report, security, shoot, terrorist | Leave a comment

A dead grandmother, a muscular tramp, and a lost wallet (Rousse)

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I spent the night before the dinner at my Granny T’s house. She was looking remarkably well – and indeed fashionable – for someone who had been dead for twenty years. On the evening of the big event itself I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bank, brown, business, car, cars, cash, competitor, dead, dinner, fling, grab, grandma, grandmother, granny, guest, guests, leather, lift, lost, m, men, missing, notes, pavement, race, running, safe, security, sprint, street, thief, training, tramp, trip, venue, walk, wallet | Leave a comment

Andrew Lawrence, the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, a stranded bride, and the ruler of the universe (Rousse)

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We headed up the M6, keen to reach our destination in time to take part in the 10k race, my final exams, and the graduation ceremony. We were grateful not to be travelling in the opposite direction. A light aircraft … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 10k, accident, admin, aircraft, Andrew Lawrence, assistant, astronomical, Birmingham University, bride, carriageway, ceremony, cold, comedian, crash, diagnosis, driving, Edinburgh, exam, examination, examinations, exams, father, finals, glands, gown, gownless, graduate, graduation, guard, hall robe, lane, lunch, M6, medical, motorway, office, open air, paper, performance, plane, platform, puppet, race, revision, robes, Rolls Royce, ruler of the universe, sandwich, Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, security, show, silk, silver, stage, stars, student, swollen, tailback, textbook, trainers, treatment, university, University of Birmingham, vet, vintage, wedding, worry | Leave a comment

Hibs Hearts derby ticket hunt (Rousse)

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Dreamaticus

For authentic Saturday afternoon entertainment I decided to take my weekend guests to a football match. The Hiberian ground wasn’t too far away, so I slipped out of the house first thing on Saturday morning to go and buy some … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged call, colleague, colleagues, common, conference, conference call, derby, Edinburgh, envelopes, fan, fans, flat, football, green, ground, Hearts, Hibernian, Hibs, house, maroon, members, poke, poking, Portobello, room, Saturday, security, sister-in-law, sisters-in-law, soccer, table, ticket, tickets | 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

An unaccompanied visit to New York’s Robertson Library (Rousse)

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I agreed to meet the others at the same patisserie where we had enjoyed breakfast earlier in the day. A round of cakes would set us up nicely prior to catching our flight back to the UK after this US … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American, bills, breakfast, cakes, cash, CCTV, change, coins, dollar, escalator, floor, GCSE, library, money guard, New York, Patisserie, Robertson, security, shrapnel, skyscraper, US | Leave a comment

Failed funeral hair mission on the A286 (Rousse)

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Dreamaticus

When I first took the phone call I thought it was my mother speaking, but as the north east accent became stronger I began to have doubts. If she were to be believed, an aunt had died and the funeral … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged A286, accent, aunt, bald, bath, bathroom, Birdham, boss, break, broken, Bubbles, call, coiffure, death, die, died, estate, fail, failed, failure, funeral, glass, hair, hairdresser, mall, man, mission, mother, north east, ornament, phone, retail park, sales, security, shopping, skull, snap, stained, stylist, tandem, telephone, toupée, treatment, unctions, Volvo, Walwyn Close, wig | Leave a comment

Thirsty Queen congratulates academic on latest leg of jubilee tour (Rousse)

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Dreamaticus

For security reasons the date of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee visit to campus had been kept a closely guarded secret. It was a complete coincidence that I happened to come into the office on that particular day at the height … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged au pair, Black Watch, blackwatch, bottle, bouquet, bouquets, bow, campus, cast-off, cast-offs, congratulate, congratulations, cotton, diamond jubilee, dress, flowers, jubilee, mini-skirt, office, outfit, photograph, photographs, PowerPoint, presentation, Queen, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth II, royal, secret, security, sixth form, skirt, sports, summer, tartan, thirst, thirsty, tour, university, vacation, water | Leave a comment