Tag Archives: stairs

Scandal of coffin-carrying caretakers and their enormous retirement lump sums (Rousse)

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I was hidden from view, looking for something in the cloakroom under the stairs, when I heard the men clutter in. I could tell that they were heaving something very heavy. I peered round from my hiding place and saw … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bald, boast, caretaker, cloakroom, coat, coffin, fortune, heavy, hidden, hide, hiding, lump sum, luxury, mean, retirement, Spain, stairs, swear, swearing | Leave a comment

Spiderwoman student adds to academic’s workload woes (Rousse)

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I needed to speak urgently to PhD student S. I could see her out of the window from my office in the tower block on campus. I called out to her and she said that she would come up straight … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged block, brickwork, building, campus, carpentry, crutches, frame, gap, office, pane, PhD, spider, Spiderwoman, stairs, student, superhero, tower, towerblock, window, woman, workload | 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

Rousse’s perilous journey

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Dreamaticus

This was highly embarrassing. My gym membership had run out several weeks earlier and somehow I had ended up in the changing rooms with everyone encouraging me to pretend that I was still a member. This was not right and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged African, Africans, death, drown, gym, journey, kayak, kayaking, member, membership, mudflat, paddle, paddling, partner, peril, perilous, river, spiral, stair, staircase, stairs, step, steps, stream, tributary | Leave a comment

Malcolm Bradbury and Diane Abbott predict the next bestseller (Rousse)

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The big clue as to the location of the conference was the island visible across the stretch of water to the west. If that was the Isle of Man, then this was rural Cumbria. However, it was impossible to work … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged best, best seller, bestseller, cargo, commune, conference, Cumbria, dead, Diane Abbott, Friends, gloves, island, Isle of Man, KM, knowledge management, lift, Malcolm Bradbury, next bestseller, novel, oven, paternoster, publisher, school, seller, slippery, snow, stairs | Leave a comment

Small frustrations blight playgirl lifestyle (Belle)

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Dreamaticus

For no apparent reason I was now living the life of an international playgirl. I was staying in the world’s best hotels. I was dating rich, handsome men from countries I had never heard of. I could ski! My latest … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boyfriend, complaint, hairdresser, hotel, international playgirl, jewellery, rich, ski-ing, stairs, telephone, the Alps | Leave a comment

Another Sunday in academia – with a hedgehog (Rousse)

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Dreamaticus

If you have ever wondered how the typical academic spends a Sunday, the answer is straightforward: either at work, or thinking about work. This Sunday was no different from most others. TPR was entertaining himself elsewhere when I set off … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1979, academia, academic, algebra, arm, art, assault, Australian, board room, boss, colleague, colleagues, conference, etymology, exhibition, favour, gap, gaps, hedgehog, installation, knee, lecturer, lecturers, library, math, mathematics, maths, PowerPoint, professor, room, seminar, staff development, staircase, stairs, Sunday, tower, TPR, university | Leave a comment

Commuting by ‘Fawlty Towers’ ocean liner (Belle)

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The ocean liner departure hall was overcrowded and really confusing, yet still I refused to ask for help. I only wanted to travel as far as Hatfield, but I didn’t know if my ship would be departing from the north- … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accountant, bullet holes, crime scene, departure hall, exam, Fawlty Towers, Hatfield, ocean liner, photograph, platform, police, post-it, ship, stairs, steward, Terry the Chef | Leave a comment

Checking in at the Institute of Directors (Rousse)

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I was keen to win a FourSquare check-in at the Institute of Directors in London so during the seminar lunch break I wandered the building, hunting for a signal. There was nothing on the ground floor so I took the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged building, claustrophobia, conference, dark, Finland, Finnish, FourSquare, ground floor, Institute of Directors, Internet, judge, lawyers, lift, London, lunch, mud, muddy, Pall Mall, park, profile, seminar, signal, stairs, steps, vertigo | Leave a comment

A successful escape (Belle)

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Dreamaticus

It was a daring escape plan. I gathered my friends and the dog and the cat into a wire mesh cage, locked us in and started to slide down four fights of stairs, stopping only to push the front door … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged babies, cage, cat, dog, escape, rescue, shampoo, stairs | Leave a comment