Tag Archives: university

A reunion with Gandalf, Dumbledore, Beowulf, and Basil Fawlty (Rousse)

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Gandalf and/or Dumbledore was dead. I saw them wheel his body into the hall on a trolley. The white sheet was meant to cover the entire corpse, but strands of long white hair could not be contained and peeked out … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2026, 40th, actor, actors, affair, alcohol, anniversary, arm, Basil Fawlty, Beowulf, body, booze, bottom, buffet, cheer, chocolate, cigarettes, coffee, confession, conversation, corpse, cover, culprit, dead, diet, drink, Dumbledore, Effes, fictional, food, friend, Gandalf, hair, hand, hero, John Cleese, long, man, marquee, meeting, mousse, mouth, New Forest, pair, pale, pinch, portaloo, portaloos, professional, remake, reunion, room, sad, shape, sheet, summer, suspect, suspects, sweets, table, tent, tents, TPR, trolley, university, white, work | Leave a comment

A post-REF ghost train ride around Edinburgh (Rousse)

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I picked the DVD up from reception at Queen Margaret University’s Corstorphine campus and carried it down to the staff room. I needed someone to help me proof the multimedia excerpts that had been added to my most recent publication … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged achievements, bodies, carriages, children, Corstorphine, DVD, Edinburgh, ghost, grope, JIS, Journal of Information Science, Lego, light, limbs, mother, multimedia, nursing, post-REF, professor, publication, QMC, QMU, QMUC, reception, REF, Research Excellence Framework, town, train, trip, tunnels, university, wailing | Leave a comment

Tsunami victim gathers up beach wear and the wounded (Rousse)

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I thought that I had left my belongings far enough up the beach for them to be safe. Then a huge wave appeared from nowhere and dragged everything in its path back into the sea. With the help of my … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach, belongings, bikini, bikinis, duty, ear, friend, hearing, huge, injured, rescue, sea, small, tsunami, university, wave, wounded | Leave a comment

Who will be Wella’s next model? (Rousse)

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The “campus as building site” experience was really getting to me. From the window of the union bar we watched as yet another structure was pulled down. Today it was the turn of the pier to be demolished. Stray shards … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged application, beauty, black, blonde, building, competition, degree, demolish, disqualify, form, gust, knickers, Marks and Spencer, masonry, model campus, Ms, reluctant, Scottish, sea, sensible, site, skirt, underwear, university, Wella, wind, window, woman, wood | Leave a comment

How to write a novel: Rousse explains her strategy to imposter “Dave”

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

“Dave” claimed that he was a veteran of the Edinburgh Coffee Morning, and old friends with “Andy”. I couldn’t ever remember seeing this Dave at the Friday gatherings before, and on close questioning he couldn’t come up with a surname … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Andy, Centotre, confession, Dave, Edinburgh Coffee Morning, Friday, friend, gathering, identity, imposter, interests, job, literary, novel, pal, son, surname, university, veteran, visits, write | Leave a comment

A miracle escape in Sunderland (Rousse)

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I decided to give the meeting in London a miss and instead caught the train to Sunderland. There I visited my university friend SL and her young, and extremely irresponsible, husband. While S and I played in the snow along … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged articulated, blue, carriageway, crush, escape, friend, husband, London, lorry, meeting, miracle, miss, plastic, seafront, sledge, snow, Sunderland, train, truck, university, wheels | 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

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

Back to Birmingham for the finals (Rousse)

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Why had I volunteered to resit the final exams of my undergraduate degree? There was no need for me to do this, and I didn’t stand a chance of passing. The only benefit of dragging myself back to Birmingham was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham, cake, cakes, degree, examinations, exams, finals, Friends, jewellery, languages, pass, picnic, resit, tapas, undergraduate, university | Leave a comment

A husband hunt in high heels, and a friendly German (Rousse)

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I was impatient to join the others at the Oxford University reunion. Meanwhile my friend P was hesitating. I was keen to get through the door and track down any single men. P wanted to wait a while to see … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged black, cobbles, door, friend, friendly, gay, German, high heels, hippies, hunt, husband, India, men, mother, Oxford, reunion, satin, single, university, welcome, woman | Leave a comment