Tag Archives: university

Farmyard noises trump smoking as acceptable behaviour in public (Rousse)

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Dreamaticus

It was the day of my big performance. It didn’t go quite as anticipated. Granted, my father kept his promise not to heckle me. Instead he did much worse by interrupting the vote of thanks with farmyard noises. The speaker … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged behaviour, farm, farmyard, father, heckle, heckling, inaugural, lecture, noise, noises, performance, professorial, smoking, speaker, university, yard | 1 Comment

How to improve your REF 2014 ranking (Rousse)

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Dreamaticus

Once again, at the airport I bumped into someone I hadn’t seen for ages. This time it was MH. Our last encounter had been over quarter of a century ago on the campus of the University of Birmingham. We spent … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged airport, Birmingham, Birmingham University, Blackberry, broken, cell, degree, degrees, documentation, friend, inoperable, iPhone, Isle of Man, Masters, meeting, mobile, phone, ranking, rating, REF, REF 2014, school, student, students, submission, submissions, teacher, teachers, undergraduate, undergraduates, university, University of Birmingham | Leave a comment

Planning for University interviews by tandem (Rousse)

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Dreamaticus

When I’d promised that I would take my sister S to her university interviews I had not appreciated how hard it would be to organise transport. It was particularly difficult to work out travel plans around her afternoon appointment at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged car, driving, fare, interview, interviews, London, roads, sister, tandem, train, trains, UCL, university, University College London, winter | Leave a comment

How to speak French – again (Rousse)

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I was back at the University of Birmingham under the care of Mr H. He questioned my motivation for joining the second year class. What was I doing here? Didn’t I already hold a first degree, as well as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham, Birmingham University, degree, doctorate, French, learn, Masters, PhD, speak, university, University of Birmingham | Leave a comment

Fried chicken and a saucy professor (Belle)

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Dreamaticus

How many more times was I going to have to explain to my father that these were NOT the Lithuanian model factories he insisted they were? They were simply fried chicken restaurants on Lewisham High Street. They had however, had … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, bookcase, Chaucer, dolls house, essay, factory, fried chicken, Lewisham, Lithuanian, London, university | Leave a comment

A mother’s secret career and further clues of the Baby Ted graveyard (Rousse)

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The party of external examiners included an elderly man from Sheffield University, a woman from Loughborough, and a dark-haired systems librarian called Mike Hirst. They all seemed friendly enough although none were interested enough to acknowledge (or perhaps question) who … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1975, academic, Baby Ted, bear, Blackberry, campus, career, colleague, e-mail, examiner, examiners, game, graveyard, handbag, internal, librarian, line, lines, Loughborough, mentor, mother, Muirhead Tower, mum, office, opera, PhD, phone, premium, professor, replica, roads, secret, Sheffield, sister, soap, soaps, Stockton-on-Tees, systems, teddy, telephone, television, tights, tower block, traffic, trek, TV, university, University of Birmingham, viva, walk, White House | Leave a comment

School reunions: beware the ex (Rousse)

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Dreamaticus

It was difficult to establish my role at this reunion. For example, when KP and I disappeared to the ladies for an hour we felt terribly guilty, believing that we would be missed. However, when we emerged again afterwards, nobody … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged auditorium, bathroom, Birmingham, Birmingham University, car, cashmere, classmate, classmates, driving, film, friend, Hoppings, house, jersey, jumper, ladies, movie, Newcastle, Oxford, pupil, pupils, reunion, school, sweater, teacher, teachers, Town Moor, TPR, university, University of Birmingham, University of Oxford | Leave a comment

Talents of a child “very advanced for his age” rub off on Rousse

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Dreamaticus

We’d barely known him an afternoon, yet bit by bit Gwen was already revealing himself to be one of the most fascinating people that we had ever met. When he invited us to his 40th birthday party that evening in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 40th, advanced for his age. dinner, baby, bird, birds, birthday, child, class, classes, cuckoo, cuckoos, cutlery, dirty, dishwater, dry, Edinburgh, ethical, ethics, fork, forks, fortieth, fun, games, guest, guests, kitchen, knowledge management, meal, module, modules, Northumbria, Omni Centre, ornithology, party, private, prodigy, psychologist., puffin, puffins, research, son, song thrush, song thrushes, spoons, study dishwasher, super powers, talk, university, Uri Geller, Virgin, Virgin Active, vocabulary, walk, wash, washing up | Leave a comment

A labrador, a poodle and a Yorkshire terrier (Rousse)

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The meeting took place at the dining room table of my grandmother’s house in Corbridge. Given that the location was so special to me, I thought that my colleagues could have been more patient when I interrupted the proceedings with … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged anecdotes, Bruntsfield, childhood, colleagues, Corbridge, customers, dining, dog, dogs, HR, human resources, labrador, meeting, poodle, qualifications, shop, sports, table, university, window, Yorkshire terrier | 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