Tag Archives: student

Fake invalid benefits from meeting with budding rock star (Rousse)

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I quite enjoyed behaving as if I were a poverty-stricken invalid. I barely made any effort to work, and TPR gladly cooked me the special meals that I demanded. I regularly attended a charity service that helped clothe the needy, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1996 colleague, band, benefits, blazing, budding, care, cashmere, charity, classmate, classmates, clothe, coat, cost, dinner, disabled, enthusiasm, fake, fan, heat, holiday, invalid, jetty, meals, music, needy new, poor, poverty, reunion, rock, Simon Smith, son, special, star, student, table, TPR, work | Leave a comment

Katie Price returns to work as earnings drop (Rousse)

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Katie Price (AKA Jordan) was offering her services as a beautician at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. “Why would anyone with your wealth be waxing other people’s legs?” I asked her. “I only earn £300,000 a year”, she replied as she called … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 000, £300, band, beautician, brass, cashmere, custom, drop, earnings, east European, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, entrance, ERI, grey, guide, healthcare, hospital, Jordan, Katie Price, leg, legs, Little France, man, money, NHS Scotland, patients, pensioners, plastic, return, Romanian, scarf, Scotland, student, sum, surgery, theatre, tourists, trolleys, visitors, wax, wealth, wife, work | Leave a comment

Magic tables only a partial solution to University accommodation problems (Rousse)

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I was dismayed over the state of my accommodation. I had been allocated a tiny desk squeezed into the corner of a large computer lab populated by PhD students. My computer and printer took up most of the desk’s surface … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, academics, accommodation, chat, computer, conditions, corner, desk, dismay, furniture, lab, leg, legs, magic, opportunity, partial, PhD, printer surface, problem, problems, solution, space, spare, student, students, table, tables, tea, technician, tray, university, Vice Principal, wall, woe, woes, work | Leave a comment

Rousse loses it at a meeting

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I was officially hopeless. At a meeting at work: I couldn’t remember PhD student L’s name and mistakenly introduced her to everyone as “Valerie”. My old colleague JB, with whom I had last worked in 1999, took my place in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged chair, colleague, meeting, PhD, student, Valerie | Leave a comment

Black M&S knickers laundered for the overworked academic (Rousse)

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Dreamaticus

It was inevitable that I would eventually just give in to my workload and move onto campus. My new “home” was a small space at the end of a bench of computers in a noisy student lab: we had words … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, allowance, autumn, BBC, bench, black, boss, camera, campus, chest, clothes, committee, computers, drawers, hills, home, job, knickers, lab, launder, machine, Marks and Spencer, meeting, Ms, overwork, overworked, pants, Radio 1, room, set, skills, student, sun, workload, workstation | Leave a comment

The cost of milk and kittens (Rousse)

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Dreamaticus

They’d been messing around with our office accommodation again. My temporary desk at the side of an enormous public room was the first port of call for any student enquiries. The latest question to come my way was ridiculous. A … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accommodation, £1, cat, corner, cost, desk, drown, enquiries, kitten, kittens, litter, milk, office, question, room, shop, student, temporary, things, unwanted, woman | Leave a comment

Cool accommodation in Edinburgh (Rousse)

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Our student accommodation was the best in Edinburgh. SL, ED and I shared a cool open-plan penthouse of pale wood and glass, with its own eight-person indoor jacuzzi bath. Everyone wanted to come and stay with us, including TPR and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 20p, accommodation, best, cool, corridor, Edinburgh, filthy, Freshers, Fringe, girl, glass, Irish, jacuzzi, lecture, London, maths, open-plan, pale, Royal Society, screen, seminar, shows, strand, student, time, toilets, TPR, union, wood | Leave a comment

Final year project ideas – and a love poem (Rousse)

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I left my office mate to deal with the final year student who imagined that it would be possible to write up an honours project based on (a) a love poem to his girlfriend and (b) options for the purchase … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged colleague, final year, girlfriend, hi-fi, honours, idea, ideas, love, mate, office, poem, project, student | Leave a comment

The Chinese Italian student and the Financial Times juggling balls (Rousse)

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The Chinese student presented me with two black and white Financial Times branded juggling balls in the back of the car. Then, in perfect English, he told me that he was not Chinese, but Italian. This was seriously confusing. Nevertheless, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged balls, Chinese, English, Financial Times, gift, Italian, juggling, present, student | Leave a comment

Foil-wrapped Easter bunnies prove more interesting than professorships (Rousse)

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We ejected the two students from the table and got down to business. Our newly-appointed bearded colleague contributed much to the discussion. This was just what we hoped for when we took the decision to recruit external experienced staff on … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged appointment, appointments, beard, birthday, bunnies, bunny, cafeteria, experience, foil, parents, present, presents, professor, professors, professorship, professorships, promotion, rabbit, rabbits, staff, student, students, table, university | Leave a comment