House mates/hates

I generally get on well with my housemates. Our house, compared to some I’ve seen or heard about, is a bastion of friendliness and cleanliness. However, plenty of things still aggravate me. Most of these have been issues which I’ve been tempted to blog about for ages, but haven’t got around to either because I wanted to write an angry “grrr, I hate this shit hole” type of blog, or because I’m always paranoid that people will take what I’ve written in the wrong way. I don’t make many attempts to hide my identity, and most of the people who read this blog are friends or acquaintances in real life. It’s too late to change names, as I’d have to go through a good two and a half years of entries to erase everything and my blog will still pop up when you google my name.

I could make a list of things which annoy me, such as my cutlery constantly being taken, food spills left on the counter, hair on the shower walls etc etc etc, but it would be long and boring, and pretty vindictive. The fact that one of my housemates (Housemate 1) seems not to be able to clear up her mess annoys me. She thinks she does, but leaving spills of tomato sauce to crust onto the work surface or bits of stir fry strewn across the cooker bothers me a lot more than a couple of unwashed plates.

She and her boyfriend have also decided that he now lives in our house. I don’t mind the fact that they want to spend time together, and when he only stayed round a couple of nights a week it was bearable. Now however, he actually lives here. Rent and bill free, might I add. To cap it off, he’s unemployed, so is spending the whole day hanging around, using our water, electricity and gas. I don’t know if he pays something towards her share of the bills, but I don’t really think that’s fair. He has a house in Leamington, but lives here. It makes no sense! According to Housemate 1, next year he’ll be going to Birmingham University. To this, I replied something along the lines of “Oh, that’s cool. It’ll be nice that you won’t be living too far apart”.

Contrary to my expectations- that he would be living on campus or nearby, like a normal student- she replied that he would be living with her most of the time. Everyone I’ve talked to thinks this isn’t on. I don’t dislike him, but it annoys me to see his feet all over the sofa like it’s his house. Next year, we’ll also be living in a much smaller house- for three people. If she’d asked if he could live with us next year, we could have looked for a four bedroom house and it wouldn’t have been a problem. This morning, when I went into the bathroom, it was ridiculous. He’d just been in there, and there was water all over the floor, shaving foam smeared on the mirror and the taps, and hair all over the bath. I wouldn’t treat my own bathroom like that, let alone one in a house where I was a guest. The other day, I was taking a shower, and when I came out of the bathroom, he was standing right outside the door. To me, that was a little creepy. I was only wearing a towel, and although I don’t mind my housemates seeing me like that, I don’t want some random guy to. What was he achieving by waiting outside in the first place? If you need to use the bathroom and it’s occupied, most people would just come back in a couple of minutes.

Housemate 1 and him also had what sounded like a massive argument the other day. He had been out, and then he must have arrived back because I suddenly heard doors slamming, so viciously that I swear the house shook. I then heard shouting, more slamming doors and so on. Later, I went downstairs to get a cup of tea, and Boyfriend 1 is in the living room. As I walk back into the hall, I can hear Housemate 1 crying from inside her room. I don’t want them to break up in that I don’t want Housemate 1 to be unhappy, but it would make the house situation for next year much more convenient.

Regarding next year, I’m going to see how it goes. However, I’m going to put my foot down when it comes to bills. Everyone I’ve talked to about it seems to think that it’s unfair for him to live rent and bill free. My gran especially thinks so. I’m going to say that if he agrees to pay his quarter of bills then I don’t mind him living there. I’m also going to have a word about him getting his act together regarding cleaning the house, perhaps later this week if I have the time. I shouldn’t have to clean up his mess in the bathroom, and since he’s the only one in the house who isn’t studying or with a job, and who isn’t paying any bills, it only seems fair that he should be the one responsible for cleaning!

I will update later on the situation, and if I ever become brave and not passive aggressive (which I’m very good at) enough to say anything, rather than whine on the internet.

Brussel sprouts and the BNP

Hilarious. On the first page of results for images of “Hornchurch library” is a photo from my blog;

A stunning photo of a brussel spout inside an art book. I think this says a lot about Havering Library services.

In more important news, I’ve been watching the EU election results on TV with Giles and his housemates. It’s really depressing how many people have voted for the BNP and UKIP (BNP especially). I guess there’s enough about that on the internet already though. Suffice to say, I’m glad that I voted, and annoyed with people who didn’t because “they couldn’t be bothered” or “it wouldn’t make a difference”, like my housemates.

Three down, one to go// Coventry Noodle Bar

As the title states, I’ve had three exams for this year so far; Hellenistic World, Greek and Roman Coinage, and Domestic Space in the Roman World. Domestic Space was today, and Coinage was yesterday. Hellenistic World went well, and I feel confident about it, but I had done three or four times the revision that I did for others, simply because of time constraints. Coinage- I would say that I don’t want to talk about it, but that’s a lie! Coinage has become my Latin (see past entries). I started to revise three days before the exam, and although I read two entire books, I still think I didn’t do well. The questions were awkward, and I couldn’t write enough to fill the two hour exam slot, so I left twenty minutes early. I’m usually running out of time, desperatley trying to fling in a last few facts. Luckily, Domestic Space went much better. It’s my favourite module, so I had a nice build up of knowledge, and I’d revised quite well. Despite having a few mental blocks, I wrote a lot in the exam (filling a whole exam booklet and a half!). The questions were also not too bad, letting me show off a little. While I was talking to people from the module afterwards, it seems I answered different questions to most of them which is generally a good thing, as it means less comparisons can be made between my work and other people’s.

My last exam is on Saturday, and that’s Sex and Gender. After that, I’m going into work for the afternoon, and then I’ve planned to go round Giles’ and catch up on all the drinking and having fun I’ve missed out on over the exam period.

Monday I took a break from revision to meet up with Giles. As I usually go to Leamington when we go out, we decided that he would come to Coventry and we would check out the noodle bar, which I’ve wanted to go to for a while. Knowing my love of tofu and Chinese food, a few friends have recommended it to me. At first look, it looked quite seedy and run down, but we persevered. When we went upstairs to the seating area, however, it was really nice. Simply decorated and light, with small tables for two or four. The menu was printed on one side in Chinese, the other in English- a sign that the food will probably be good in my experience! After some deliberation, I ordered a lemonade, Chinese tea, and Szechuan tofu and vegetables with fried vermicelli noodles. Most of the menu was split into a system where you would choose your main/protein- tofu, chicken etc, then choose a way of cooking or sauce (Szechuan for me, as I like spicy things), then choose your accompaniment- soup noodles, rice etc. Giles, not as much a fan of Chinese food as he is of making me happy, got an egg fried rice.

The food arrived quickly, my noodles and tofu in an enormous bowl. Literally, enormous. I wish I’d taken a photo of it, but I started eating it as soon as possible. The food was perfectly cooked, with the tofu being light and airy. It was incredibly hot when it came out, and had obviously been cooked and brought out very quickly. The sauce was good as well, with a nice balance of spices. I could have done with some more vegetables, but there was enough food to fill me up for the rest of the day! I definitley want to go there again. The bill came to about £12 for our meals and drinks, which was very reasonable. I’m hopefully going back on the 19th!

When we had finished our quite late lunch, we had a browse round the shops. I bought some flip flops from H&M, and Giles bought us both an ice cream from Thorntons, which was really good, even if I was denied toffee honeycomb, or whatever my first choice. It was really nice to sit in the sun and talk and mess around, especially since we haven’t been spending much time together lately, due to my exams. We then went back to mine and hung out, having a dinner of snacks! Giles went home at about ten, and since then I’ve been buried in revision. I can’t wait until Saturday when they’re all finished!

I’ve planned to go home for my birthday, since most people at university still have exams, and it won’t be much fun sitting in my room on my own. I’m excited to see my room as well, which has been redecorated in my absence. I chose the colour before I left as well as a blind, and according to my mum it looks good. Unfortunatley, I’m going to have to sort out seven years worth of accumulated junk when I get there. I’m sure the local charity shops will be getting a good haul.