Tag Archives: stick

Trick-cycling, pogo-ing, and the real purpose of a private education (Rousse)

Posted on September 12, 2024 by Dreamaticus

After watching a friend’s son trick-cycle his way down the yellow-painted banister of an Edinburgh tenement staircase, I took my pogo stick and bounced along the streets to my new girls’ school. So much for school fees: the teachers at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banister, book, cycle, Edinburgh, exam, fee-paying, independent, network, pogo, qualification, school, stick, teacher, Tenement, trick, Waterstones | Leave a comment

A single-handed ski pole assailant (Rousse)

Posted on April 6, 2023 by Dreamaticus

My 83 year old mother tossed her sturdy walking sticks to the kerb, then scampered up the road towards a group of young men. There she identified her quarry, then attacked him single-handed with a ski pole. She was clearly … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged assailant, attack, kerb, mother, pole, quarry, ski, stick, walking | Leave a comment

Human Pooh sticks in Hawick (Rousse)

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Dreamaticus

The main street of the handsome town of Hawick was lined with proud Georgian buildings. The river also looked beautiful, especially on a summer’s day like this. In the bright sunshine, the river bed looked like a glowing yellow cobbled … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Hawick, nephew, Pooh, river, stick, summer, water | Leave a comment

Cannabis dealer takes cash in Leith (Rousse)

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Dreamaticus

On my way walk back from Leith along the cycle path I picked up a couple of heavy bin bags that PL was about to send to the charity shop. Inside them I found a pile of brand new hand-knitted … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bag, bin, campus, cannabis, cash, charity, cycle, data, dealer, hand-knit, heavy, jersey, journey, jumper, Leith, man, money, mother, path, pub, purse, rescue, resin, shop, stick, sweater, toddler, TPR | Leave a comment

1970s bed linen, out of reach kitchen appliances, and a gift of £1000 (Rousse)

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I were staying with KLX at his London flat while the rest of his family spent the summer in Ireland. KLX admitted that he wasn’t the best of housekeepers and asked me to help make up the beds … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1970s, appliance, £1000, bed, bed linen, birthday, book, borther, boy, collapse, family, flat, gift, grasping, housekeeper, Ireland, kettle, kitchen, London, soaf, son, stick, summer, tea, television, TPR, unit | Leave a comment

Texan travel anxieties (Rousse)

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I moved to Texas, where I took a job at a university at which DT was a student. I was extremely grateful that each day DT gave me a lift to work. One day DT explained that she … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American, anxiety, car, fleet, gear, gear-stick, holiday, lift, road, shift, stick, student, Texan, Texas, TPR, travel, university, vehicle, work | Leave a comment

Drugs and death at Tesco (Rousse)

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I needed drugs. TPR told me that we could buy them over the counter at the supermarket. I wasn’t too sure of this, but felt it was worth a try, so I followed him out of the door and along … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged assistant, £20, bored, Broughton Road, car, car park, charge, child, children, chit chat, counter, death, door, drug, drugs, duty, Edinburgh, entrance, fatality, idle, kid, kids, kill, layout, magazine, neighbourhood, newspaper, park, people, pharmacy, quest, request, road, sample, scream, stands, stick, supermarket, Tesco, TPR | Leave a comment

A flying cat, a red-haired witch, and an all-inclusive school reunion in Stockton-on-Tees (Rousse)

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Dreamaticus

A flying cat screeched as it swooped over us, the tips of its ears glowing fluorescent green in the darkening sky at dusk. It landed high above us in the canopy of the bare winter trees, only just visible as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1970s, beat, cat, childhood, education, flying, ginger, name, pub, red-haired, reunion, school, semi-naked, silhouette, stick, Stockton, Stockton-on-Tees, trees, winter, witch | Leave a comment

Fight breaks out on A702 as couple takes the wrong road south (Rousse)

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Dreamaticus

At best our relations might be described as “professional”. At worst they were “frosty”. On an average day we tolerated one another – so why did he have his arm around me, and why did it feel so natural to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged A68, A702, arm, attack, cosy, couple, equipment, event, fight, foot, frosty, game, gang, ice-breaker, MIles, natural, Newcastle, Northumbria, professional, puck, pucks, relations, reload, retrieve, steal, stick, sticks, strangers, tolerate, trolley, university, venue, walk, way, wrong | 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