Tag Archives: White House

How to stop puppy biting (Rousse)

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Upstairs at the White House in my sister S’s room, the cocker spaniel puppy would not let go of my hand. His alligator teeth were well and truly clamped into my skin. I really had to shake him off before … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alligator, biting, clamp, cocker, damage, dog, hand, Hartburn, idea, ignore, lavatory, puppy, skin, spaniel, Stockton-on-Tees, teeth, White House | Leave a comment

Marcus Brigstocke tour takes in the stationers (Rousse)

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Marcus Brigstocke had set the exam paper so it was only natural that it was also he who accompanied me and my sister J to the stationers. Here we would purchase some scrap paper on which I could plan my … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1980s, answers, bedroom, Boulevard St Michel, buy, exam, father, France, French, fridge, Gibert Jeune, grandpa, hand, hospital, literature, Marcus Brigstocke, pantry, paper, Paris, pay, purchase, scrap, sister, stationer's, Stockton-on-Tees, tour, undergraduate, upstairs, White House | Leave a comment

A coiled sausage surprise at the White House (Rousse)

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I found the uncooked dinner on the staircase after KA and I returned from the swamp. I wondered whether the coiled sausage in puff pastry would be enough for us all: me, KA, KS and HT. My mother would know. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brother-in-law, coiled, Cumberland, dining, dinner, food, guest, kitchen, meal, mother, pastry, puff, sausage, sisters, Stockton-on-Tees, swamp, table, uncooked, visit, White House | Leave a comment

An encounter with the monochrome set (Rousse)

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Unused to running late, I was full of apologies when we finally pulled up the gravel drive of the White House in Hartburn. The cyclist was waiting, leaning against the dining room window with his white bike. I learnt later … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged apologise, bicycle, bike, black, blind, Blipfoto, bodies, clothes, cyclist, dining room, drive, Edinburgh, encounter, escape, gravel, Hartburn, Leith Walk, lights, mattresses, monochrome, see, set, sing, street, TPR, vision, white, White House, wife, woman | Leave a comment

An unwelcome extra in a New York fruit salad (Rousse)

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Dreamaticus

JG brought me a delicious-looking fruit salad all the way from New York. When I took a mouthful I bit straight into something brittle. There was a shard of glass amongst the fruit! We needed to hold this as evidence … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bedroom, box, britlle, complaint, extra, fruit, glass, jewellery, New York, salad, shard, United States, unwlecome, White House | Leave a comment

Chasing Rupert Grint in the dark (Rousse)

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My sister J and I walked along the middle of Darlington Road as far as the junction with Kenton Close. The houses were spaced out more widely than we remembered, in a landscape of lush green fields and rolling hills. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged chase, corridors, dark, Darlington Road, door, dream, fields, green, Hartburn, hills, houses, Kenton Close, landscape, lush, pursuit, Rupert Grint, snow, Stockton-on-Tees, White House | Leave a comment

Garden overhaul leaves daughters unimpressed (Rousse)

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My parents had been busy upgrading the White House. In the garden beneath the arched window they had laid a marble pétanque board, there were exercise hoops installed next to the summer house, and a red outdoors telephone where one … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged age, arched, back, board' exercise, door' forget, entrance, entrances, garden, hoops, motionless, parents, pétanque, pond, red telephone, sister, summer house, White House, window | 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

Rousse is late for school

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We were going to be late for school and JM was furious. He stormed into my bedroom at the White House to find out why it was taking me so long to get downstairs. I explained that I was just … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bolero, break, brown, car, clean, clothes, downstairs, fluffy, hall, late, lost, pile, property, regulation, school, Stockton-on-Tees, teeth, uniform, upstairs, wear, White House | Leave a comment

Rousse’s new job

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I’d never before applied for an academic job where all short-listed candidates were interviewed together. The panel comprised two well-respected academics: the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of an English university, who – quite out of character – had turned bad cop for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academia, academic, academics, art, bacon, bad cop, boss, campus, candidates, Chinese, Christmas, competition, dilemma, dining room, driving, family, father, Friends, Glasgow, Glasgow University, Heriot-Watt, interview, job, kitchen, leadership, Manchester, mother, niece, panel, position, post, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, questions, resignation, romantic, short list, short-listed, Stockton-on-Tees, stuffing, turkey, university, University of Glasgow, Victorian, White House | Leave a comment