Tag Archives: White House

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

Rousse prepares breakfast

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I busied myself making bacon sandwiches in the upstairs kitchen of the White House.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bacon, breakfast, kitchen, sandwich, sandwiches, Stockton, Stockton-on-Tees, upstairs, White House | Leave a comment

A patchwork quilt, property in Perthshire, and a stay at the Palace (Rousse)

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My parents were selling up and disposing of their possessions, as was the University of Birmingham. If I wanted to save anything, now was the time to act. I wanted nothing from the White House, but was keen to retrieve … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birmingham, carpet tacks, cottage, dentures, evidence, false, family, holiday, house, Manor, Manor House, palace, parents, patchwork, Perthshire, photo, photograph, Pitlochry, Queen, quilt, rent, restoration, royal, sell, stair, stationery, Stockton-on-Tees, teeth, university, University of Birmingham, White House | Leave a comment

Divorced couple set to remarry – in spite of ghoulish guests (Rousse)

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My parents were very relieved to hear that TPR and I had overcome our differences and decided to remarry. Our divorce in the mid-1990s had been pretty low-key (he’d simply “gone off” me) and since then we had been spending … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ceremony, chaos, couple, divorce, ghoulish, guests, make-up, marry, mother, parents, remarry, sister, Stockton-on-Tees, Thriller, wedding, White House | Leave a comment

Rag doll and stuffed penguin destroy discipline (Rousse)

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Dreamaticus

S returned home to the White House from yet another bender. I cornered her in the upstairs kitchen and demanded that this outrageous behaviour stop. She eventually agreed to add some discipline to her life, and said that she would … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bedroom, bender, discipline, doll, feet, kitchen, lino, penguin, rag, skylight, Stockton-on-Tees, stuffed, tidy, White House | Leave a comment

Top wedding style and a most unusual gift (Rousse)

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My parents laid on the party at the White House as a combined hen and stag night for SB and fiancé AG. The date was chosen to take advantage of the ceilidh on the beach, a short walk along the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1970s, beach, bedroom, beer, boots, bride-to-be, ceilidh, clothes, collar, collars, Darlington Road, designer, dog, dress, egg, eggs, face, fiance, foundation, gift, goth, goths, guest, guests, Hartburn, hat, highland, Iguanas, machair, marathon, meat, meats, mother-in-law, neck, necks, parents, party, perm, photograph, pink, poodle, present, punk, quiche, quiches, salad, salads, Scotch egg, Scotch eggs, shoreline, Stockton-on-Tees, stranger, strangers, stud, studded, studs, sundress, television, TPR, valve, valves, wedding, White House, White Stuff | Leave a comment

An unwise trip to the Scottish Antique and Arts Centre (Rousse)

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Dreamaticus

My father and my sister J had started their car journey from Stockton, so they were delighted when I suggested we break our journey at the Scottish Antique and Arts Centre. As we pulled into a parking space on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged antique, antiques, bird, birds, blacksmith, blacksmiths, car, Clarice Cliff, dish, Doune, father, field, fishing, game, glug, gravel, gurgle, journey, jug, jugs, memorabilia, metal worker, metal workers, park, parking, red, Scottish Antique and Arts Centre, sister, Stockton, Stockton-on-Tees, tackle, Toby, trip, veterinary, waders, White House | Leave a comment

Hostage taken at the White House: Rousse to the rescue

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Dreamaticus

I could hear my iPhone ringing out, but where was I, and what time of night was this? I pulled myself up in bed to peer into the dark. I was back at the White House in my childhood bedroom. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, bedroom, bike, caller, childhood, cycle, cycling, dark, dawn, doors, duvet, friend, gate, hostage, iPhone, lavender, phone, prisoner, rescue, Stockton, Stockton-on-Tees, study, trap, tree, White House | 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