Tag Archives: university

An unhappy return to Nantes (Rousse)

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Dreamaticus

Nantes was unrecognisable to me after my 33-year absence. I was also very nervous about returning to France barely able to speak French. It didn’t help that I had brought no French cash with me, and that the University sports … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged absence, campus, cash, centre, fare, French, hall of residence, hate, Nantes, return, signage, sports, step, unhappy, university | Leave a comment

University of Nottingham web pages hacked (Rousse)

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Dreamaticus

I ruined the University of Nottingham’s graduate testimonials web page when I picked out the plastic letters from the top line and dropped them on the floor. I simply couldn’t remember the wording that JC had used to honour her … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1985, back-up, degree, floor, French, hack, letters, Nottingham, page, testimonial, university, web, wording | Leave a comment

Over body-confidence, laundry robbers, the Northumbrian pipes, and a man in white bow ties (Rousse)

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Dreamaticus

Early one morning, before the shops opened, my sister S, my mother and I ran along the Ullapool esplanade. At the far end we stepped on the scales. My sister weighed in at 11 stone five, over two stone heavier … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged appointment, black, body, body confidence, bow, business men, cinema, class, comic, connection, countryside, dress, enormous, esplanade, face, film, hat, hide-out, hoop, knickers, laundry, lime green, lipstick, massive, mother, multimedia, news, Northumbrian pipes, performance, pride, robber, screening, sequin, shirt, sick, sister, sparkle, story, tie, torso, Ullapool, unhealthy, university, weight, white | Leave a comment

A hall of residence for horses (Rousse)

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Dreamaticus

I stabled the grey mare in my new hall of residence bedroom with a degree of reluctance. First I was dubious as to the ‘legality’ of keeping a horse on campus. I also harboured concerns over my skills as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bedroom, car, conversation, curry, diner, dinner, Driffield, driver, driving, friend, grey, hall of residence, horse, horsewoman, house, hug, mare, operation, parent, polite, pregnancy, ride, school, skill, student, TPR, undergraduate, university | Leave a comment

An encounter with a narcissist robot (Rousse)

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Dreamaticus

I was an unexpected, and unwelcome, guest at the house of a woman who was in my year at school. We barely knew one another. I had simply spoken to EC, a retired accountant, at a couple of reunions in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accountant, baby, children, East Africa, empire, encounter, game, guest, husband, Indian, Jew, narcissist, Pakistani, pub, reunion, robot, school, shillings, stay, Tomorrow's world, university, woman, work | Leave a comment

Ronnie Corbett goes to university (Rousse)

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Dreamaticus

Ronnie Corbett placed his right arm over my shoulder and engaged me in conversation about university entry tariffs and the relative merits of ‘old’ and post-92 institutions. How, for example, does the ‘quality’ of graduates from Northumbria, Durham, and Napier … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged comedian, Durham, entry, graduate, higher education, institution, Napier, Northumbria, post-92, quality, Ronnie Corbett, tariff, UCAS, UK, university | Leave a comment

Chatty arts professional protects her left breast (Rousse)

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Dreamaticus

ECM arrived in the basement gallery as I was installing the new exhibition. She took a plastic tub of bright green powder paint and started to mix it so that she could ‘cheer the room up a bit’. When I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, arts, bar tender, basement, breast, chatty, cup, customer, drink, drinks, exhibit, exhibition, film, friend, gallery, job, left, media, men, mix, paint, performance, powder, professional, protect, room, schedule, screening, space, supper, travel, tub, university, wall, world | Leave a comment

Anti-terrorism procedures at the Shard (Rousse)

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Dreamaticus

The restaurant at the top of the Shard was the venue for the wee reunion of some of my best friends from University: SPC (looking great and talking about her recent encounter with David Lodge), HW, JG and RA. CP … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged body, David Lodge, friend, hand, inspection, lab, laboratory, lift, London, manicure, metal, receptionist, reunion, rod, scaffolding, shard, surgical, terrorism, top, university, watch, work, wristwatch | Leave a comment

A winning sausage conference submission, with citation indexes (Rousse)

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Dreamaticus

EH and I felt obliged to attend the University research conference, even though much of the content was of little interest to us. On our arrival we could tell that many of our colleagues had ignored the event. This was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged basement, cafe, citation, colleague, conference, event, French, friend, index, model, National Library of Scotland, PhD, poster, research, sausage, student, submission, university, write-up | Leave a comment

Arnold Schwartzenegger’s boring speech (Rousse)

Posted on April 4, 2018 by Dreamaticus

Two of my Polish colleagues had commandeered my office while I was on long-term sick leave. My desk and other belongings were now all squeezed into a dark corner. I hoped that this was a temporary measure and that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged admin, Arnie Schwartzenegger, Arnold Schwartzenegger, basement, boring, campus, children, club, colleague, corner, couple, desk, dull, Easter, famous, floor, foundry, friend, gauge, guest, gym, hill, holiday, Hollywood, kiss, library, married, melt, mould, mountain pass, office, parquet, Polish, presentation, rover boat, school, sick leave, snog, space, speaker, speech, staff, temperature, university, walker, work, worker | Leave a comment