Tag Archives: year

Lion cubs join Oxford University for freshers week (Rousse)

Posted on January 29, 2025 by Dreamaticus

Dressed only in a navy blue towel, I wandered around chilly Oxford cursing the snow – and TPR, now onto the xth affair of our marriage. The new undergraduates looked both puzzled and proud at their achievement of winning places … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, affair, cousin, cub, daughter, father, grandmother, house, lion, marriage, Oxford, parent, sister, snow, son, TPR, undergraduate, university, year | Leave a comment

Oxford University cheat (Rousse)

Posted on January 10, 2025 by Dreamaticus

HVJ’s father passed on the telephone message. ‘Your daughter N is struggling with a final year essay. Please could you help?’ I couldn’t believe that it had come to this: Oxford undergraduates using their mothers as ghost writers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cheat, essay, final, ghost, message, mother, Oxford, telephone, undergraduate, university, writer, year | Leave a comment

Reunion with scar-faced friend (Rousse)

Posted on July 1, 2022 by Dreamaticus

I ran across the road to the figure that I thought I recognised. Was it DM? Yes, of course it was! She had obviously aged, and seemed to have a scar on her face, but you could easily tell that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged degree, final, reunion, scar, year | Leave a comment

Butter rent and Alice the drunk in medieval France (Rousse)

Posted on December 26, 2021 by Dreamaticus

I arrived in medieval France very late for the third year of my degree programme. All of my fellow students had arrived on time and already found cheap accommodation. I pitied them, sleeping sardine-fashion along the gutters of the village … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abroad, accommodation, Alice, apartment, butter, currency, degree, drink, France, gutter, medieval, rent, square, third, village, vodka, year | Leave a comment

Lose 10 stone within 12 months?! (Rousse)

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Dreamaticus

I estimated that the 10 stone that B planned to lose within twelve months was half her body weight. Given her track record with the scales, I very much doubted that she would ever achieve this, but I kindly kept … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 12 months, amateur, artist, £10, canvas, easel, green, lose, mother, paint, painter, scales, son, stone, year | Leave a comment

Paternoster panic and a dreary dance (Rousse)

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Dreamaticus

After scaring myself silly on the library’s open paternoster podium (at the instigation of LM), I followed a student in highland dress to the graduation ball. The latter was a grave disappointment. In a tiny meeting room at the back … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, bagpipes, ball, ceilidh, celebration, dance, dreary, graduation, library, man, panic, paternoster, podium, Scottish, scruffy, student, year | Leave a comment

Lumpy legs and a football cure for bad posture (Rousse)

Posted on July 15, 2017 by Dreamaticus

I showed the lumps on my legs to my office-mate BR. ‘You’d better get those checked by a doctor’ he said. I replied that I would do so – just as soon as I got dressed. Forty-five minutes later I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, bad, beard, clean, doctor, dress, football, friend, husband, ladies, lavatory, leg, lump, lumpy, man, office-mate, posture, preparation, procrastinate, run, skirt, soccer, teeth, women, year, York | Leave a comment

The chance of a year in France and Marmite tinfoil in a Little Chef (Rousse)

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Dreamaticus

I sat through the sandy-haired lecturer’s explanation of how to apply for a year abroad in France then took the ‘handout’ at the end. This took the form of three tiny orange cards, rather like rail tickets. There was little … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged car, card, chance, city, cover, duvet, explanation, foil, France, handout, lecturer, Little Chef, Marmite, Orange, park, rail, sandy, sheet, ticket, tin, tinfoil, TPR, year | Leave a comment

Birmingham University students play on swings to avoid murder scene (Rousse)

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Dreamaticus

SPC, SH and I stayed in Birmingham at SH’s flat a couple of weeks before the start of our final year at University. Just across the road people were queuing to lay flowers at a murder scene. We tried to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accommodation, admin, avoid, bar, Birmingham, breakfast, customer, final, flat, flower, job, murder, play, push, role, scene, staff, student, swing, TPR, uniform, university, waiting, year | Leave a comment

Return of the student bride (Rousse)

Posted on August 14, 2016 by Dreamaticus

From a pretty ordinary hotel room TPR and I were upgraded to a massive suite. The room included a huge Georgian sideboard and a bed that was positioned in the open air on the balcony giving great views of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, accident, balcony, beach, bed, Birmingham City University, bride, cat, class, computer, console, door, educational development, fang, floor, friend, game, Georgian, guest, hand, hotel, kick, kitten, return, room, sideboard, student, suite, sunbeam, TPR, vicious, video, waves, wealthy, year | Leave a comment