Tag Archives: swim

Meet MEP Margaret: the world champion Tay Bridge swimmer (Rousse)

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Dreamaticus

As soon as the woman that I called Marion corrected me and told me that she was Margaret I remembered exactly who she was: the Scottish National Party’s MEP for Stirling and world champion Tay Bridge swimmer.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bridge, champion, Margaret, Marion, Scottish National Party, SNP, Stirling, swim, swimmer, Tay | Leave a comment

Floods, Scotland’s obesity problem, and the Great British Bake Off (Rousse)

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Dreamaticus

PR was at a loss as to what to do with the flooded garage attached to his house. “Apply for a grant to turn it into a swimming pool, open it to the public, and solve Scotland’s obesity problem”, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged flood, floods, garage, grant, Great British Bake Off, house, indoors, obesity, option, pool, problem, public, Scotland, swim, swimming | Leave a comment

Whitby for work and pleasure (Rousse)

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Dreamaticus

It was difficult to tell whether we were in Whitby for work or pleasure. It was also unclear how the beautiful beaches of Uig in the Outer Hebrides had relocated to the coast of north east England. However, what was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged breakout, camera, chair, coast, competition, conference, cousin, delegates, discussion, dog, England, facilitator, Fiat Stilo, film, fitness, guest, guests, holiday, hotel, identity, keynote speaker, litter, north east, Online, online identity, organiser, Outer Hebrides, park, parks, platform, platforms, pleasure, press-up, public, research, safety, sands, sea, seminar, sink, speed, swim, town, Uig, vehicle, walk, Whitby, winner, work, wreckage | Leave a comment

Antiquarian book collecting for beginners (Rousse)

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Each morning we swam with seals. RI would join us, provided that he had not stayed out too late the night before on “tom cat” excursions. In the afternoons we liked to vary our activities. Today OC took us to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged a catalogue, activities, afternoon, antiquarian, beginners, binding, book, books, British Library, cartoon, charity, Christmas, church, collect, collecting, collection, donation, drawing room, family, highlands, holiday, house, janitor, morning, nineteenth century, parents, photographs, pile, presents, rare, retire, seals. Late, stockings, swim, tarpaulin, theological, theology, Tom cat, treasure, venture, White House | Leave a comment

Stockton Sixth Form College students take to the skies and survive the flood (Rousse)

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Very few of the staff who taught me were still now working at the Stockton Sixth Form College. The only teacher that I recognised was Mr X, still sporting his distinctive comb-over. I found ECM queening it over everyone in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acting, arms, banana, blonde, boyfriend, Christmas, college, comb-over, common room, Cortina, door, driver, flood, Ford, friendship, home, house, infant, ladder, lead, mark 3, mother, nativity, parachute, parachutes, performance, play, plays, pupil, pupils, redhead, reunion, role, rope, school, sixth from, skies, staff, star, Stockton, Stockton-on-Tees, student, students, survive, swim, talent, teacher, teachers, tradition, tree, tree house, upstairs, water, waters, yellow | Leave a comment

Basking sharks and dolphins “spotted” in the Tyne (Rousse)

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Were those basking shark fins cutting through the water? How marvellous that a shoal had made it all the way up-river to Hexham! I’d never seen basking sharks in fresh water before, and what a thrill to find them in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged basking, basking shark, basking sharks, children, dolphin, dolphins, fins, fresh, Hexham, kids, mammal, mammals, porpoise, porpoises, primary, river, school, sea, shark, sharks, shoal, swim, Tyne, water | Leave a comment

Guy Masterson and the Turkish conference groper (Rousse)

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Guy Masterson’s voice boomed from the red-curtained television screen. Normally I would be keen to watch his performance, but this was a long-anticipated work event in Turkey and I had something else to deal with: the wandering hands of regular … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged attic, barn, brother-in-law, cleavage, conference, delegates, groper, guitar, Guy Masterson, hands, heat, hotel, karaoke, ladies, laptop, lid, mitts, ocean, old, performance, pest, pool, room, screen, sea, seat, sit, star, swim, swimming, teenagers, televison, TPR, turkey, TV, water, work | Leave a comment

Bogs, bullets and a disappointing blow as Rousse hunts for Paris

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I hadn’t anticipated just how far it was to Paris. I had already walked for miles along a route that took me over boggy moorland and through a war-zone. The most dangerous moment came when I narrowly missed being shot … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arm, Blackberry, blow, bog, boggy, bogs, bullet, bullets, capital, city, display, fireplace, France, iPhone, north, outskirts, Paris, river, shop, shot, sniper, swim, swimming, town, TPR, war-zone, water | Leave a comment

Suicide bombers target ocean liner university campus in Leith – with bonus baby monkey (Rousse)

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Dreamaticus

A huge media campaign grew up around the campus move to an ocean liner moored in Leith Docks. Thousands of visitors were expected to gather for the firework display that followed our open afternoon. I was looking forward to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aeroplane, aircraft, arms, babies, baby, banner, blaze, bomber, bombers, campus, celebrations, classroom, corridor, corridors, crash, death, display, dock, docks, exit, fire, fireball, fireworks, flame, flames, fly-over, flyover, gym, hairy, heat, Leith, liner, military, monkey, ocean, plane, pram, question, son, staircase, staircases, suicide, swim, swimming, visitors, water, window | Leave a comment

Basking sharks and a bikini malfunction (Rousse)

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I splashed along the Hebridean shoreline on a beautiful summer day. For company I had the birds and an occasional seal. I even spotted a few small basking sharks surprisingly close to the water’s edge. I couldn’t understand why TPR … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged America, basking, basking shark, basking sharks, bathing costume, bikini, bird, birds, boot, campus, car, cotton, gym, Hebridean, Hebrides, job, knickers, offer, pool, sea, seal, seals, shark, sharks, shoreline, summer, swim, swimming, swimming costume, swimsuit, TPR, transparent, US, water | Leave a comment