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And That’s When Flames Caressed My Leg

Byrichard

Last night after visiting my new flat and getting to know one of the people that live there I came back to the bar in Halls to chat with friends but that didn’t last long as there was a lack of atmosphere. Everyone migrated to the field and that’s when it’d become more interesting.

Whilst some people went to get firewood we broke some branches into more manageable pieces, got some newspaper, and started a fire. I love building up fires so I helped to encourage the flames and attempted to make the fire catch.

After a few minutes it did and some people came with palettes and other flammable things onto the fire. We got a nice big flame going and the fire was so warm we had to be at least ten meters away.

Some were drinking beers, others were drinking wine. I eventually went to get a coke because it’s too warm otherwise.

Occasionally the grass would light due to the heat and start migrating away from the fire and I kept having to put those fragments of fire out. Occasionally the fire was so hot that there was nothing anyone sane would try to put out.

At one point I saw the grass light in a few areas so ran towards there and stamped on it. My body created a little area of low pressure which meant the flame caressed my trousers. It didn’t combust but one or two people did yell a warning.  I walked away.

It’s at about this time that I stopped maintaining the fire. It was burning very nicely.

Eventually, the security guard came and asked who started the fire. “we don’t know” was the answer we gave, of course, after all, it was a team effort and we’ve finished the academic year anyway. He prowled around but there wasn’t much he could do alone.

He would eventually call both the fire department and the police to come and take care of the fire. This was one of the amusing moments. The field is shaped in such a way that there are steep banks down which the fire truck could not come. As a result, we could see the fire fighters trying to work out a way to get to the fire and extinguish it. Eventually, they drove as close as they could before pulling out the fire hose and spraying the fire. Many people cheered this as fourty onlookers had gathered.

A little later the police came and told us to go back into our rooms. Some people stayed on but I went home and eventually went to sleep. Nice way to mark the end of term and uni life.

It’s Like A Night Out In The Savannah

Byrichard

Nights in halls are like nights out in the Savannah. Since the drunk party sound coming through walls is a given that’s the sound of crickets and frogs. It’s constantly there and theoretically you should eventually learn to sleep through it over time. Of course it’s not quite constant enough.

Then you’ve got the sound of banging and shuffling from the kitchen. Now that sound is the thunder storms and rain that will come over and wake you, soak you and make you wish you had a friendly cave to crawl into for shelter.

The third one are lions and hyenas, high up on the food chain and the most nefarious to your health should you not be careful. That’s the argumentative drunks often found before day break. With these there’s nothing you can do but make sure you’ve found somewhere safe to hide away, grin and bear it.

Overall what these three elements mean is one thing, that a proper night of sleep is less likely than snow on the beaches of the South Coast of England.

A Stream of Conscience on Noise and Flat Hunting.

Byrichard

As the title indicates I’ve upgraded to the new version of WordPress and I’m trying it now. I’ll have to see what the great features are in this version. I know that they were having some last-minute problems with tags but we’ll see whether they resolved those.

Aside from changing browser today I also started looking for an apartment as I am so tired of the noise made by drink fueled students. I’m not against drinking but I am against the noise they make every single day that they are at home. Why not have a bottle of wine between friends and chat for hours.

Why does everyone have to lose grip on reality? Is life that terrible for them?

Back to the upbeat stuff.

Flat hunting as a solitary person is great for a number of reasons, firstly complete freedom. You have the freedom to live anywhere that interests you, without taking other people into consideration. Of course, I do look at everything according to tube lines and distance. The closer to the center I can be better. Another consideration, of course, is to find people whose company I enjoy living with.

A good home is a perfect place from which to cope with the struggle that job hunting will be in the next few weeks and months, as they flow by.

There are three flats that I am already scheduled to visit and I may look for a few more during the day tomorrow. The more I visit the more informed the decision.

The first phone call is always the hardest. I was struggling so much in fact that I forgot about one flat and started sending out two or three e-mails in the hope that through the writing of applications I would clarify within my mind what it is I wanted to communicate.

That served me well. Within three phone calls, I had already summoned far more courage and I’ll keep looking whilst I have the time.

I need to draw up a list of the things that are important to me for when I get to the flat, to make sure not to forget something that would influence my enjoyment of this new phase in my life.

I’ve got till the second but if I’ve got an agreement by the second of June I’ll be much happier.

–I wrote this post whilst listening to Chopin. Second time in as many days that I listen to this. A change in personality or expectations? Time will decide.

Noise and Liveable Flats

Byrichard

It’s only 130am therefore it’s not that late but I want to sleep and there is something that has been hindering this effort particularly strongly for the past three nights. Drunken people with no pitch or tone control when singing using their lungs and voice projection to full pelt.

It’s not that I’m against partying but I do believe in making noise during the day or away from habitations during the day. I would love to see the same thing happen in London as in Switzerland.

Laws that forbid noise after 10pm.

On a second note here are ways future halls and student accomodation may be improved to make a full night of sleep possible.

  1. Cupboards that don’t slam. When you’re living by a kitchen one of the most annoying sounds is hearing others close cupboards

  2. Solid doors that don’t bang. The main door to the complex is loud. Every time it closes you hear it. The doors to the flat make noise when you open them.

  3. Silent locks. The sound of a key pulling the latch is loud when background sounds are inexistent

  4. Soundproofed walls. being able to hear what’s going on next door is not always pleasant.

  5. Proper windows. When you’ve got idiots outside yelling at other idiots you’ll hear the entire conversation. That’s not what you want.

  6. A system of fines rather than bans. People get far more annoyed and take far more seriously a financial loss than a ban.  With a ban you may end up in a nice house or flat where you live in better conditions.

  7. Smart fire alarms. You’ve got security so if a fire is activated check the area with a heat camera. If there’s nothing out of the ordinary just go and clear the alarm after a visual check

  8. Free high quality headphones. Rather than have loud music blearing from every room why not provide students with nice headphones which they can use to hear their music in dolby digital surround sound…

  9. A noise fuse. The idea behind this device is simple. If you exceed a certain noise level all power is cut to the area where the noise levels are too high. In so doing disturbances would be far more limited.

10.  Quiet furniture. When you’ve got a concrete floor with no padding and chairs with no padding any shift of the furniture results in a lot of noise. Provide a quiet surface and life may be livable.

I’m tired of other people’s noise. I’d love for them to become reasonable and start being quiet. Once every two weeks is fine, but not every single day. Not all of us enjoy drinking at night and doing nothing during the day. Not all of us appreciate bad singing either.

Anyway worst case scenario I have another two weeks without sleep.

Best case scenario. New flat within a few days.

Without Instilling Fear Fire Alarms Are deafening But No More.

Byrichard

I’m suffering from complete apathy for fire alarms. I really hate them. I’ve been hearing idiots make noise till 3 am but thought that I could attempt sleeping. Wrong at 0340 AM there was noise, then for at least 20 minutes at four am. Now it’s 5:52 and I’m awake but this time due to the ineffective fire alarm.

I might go so far as to say pointless and potentially dangerous fire alarm. A fire alarm that makes you clasp your ears to dull the pain of how loud they are is going to prevent you from getting out of bed and to safety. A fire alarm is designed to instill fear, not pain. Fear makes you rush.

This fire alarm just angers me and wonder which moron set it off this time. Rather than fire alarms, an outdated warning system should have flashing lights or a twitter-like system. It could say something like “Fire in block L”, or “smoke detected in Block P” but unconfirmed as of yet. It could say “device fault”.  It could also say “Fire in Kitchen” which did occur two days ago.

A few months ago it was a candle in a room burning through onto a towel and potentially turning a small problem into a life-threatening situation.

None of these matters. If I hear an alarm my first thought is “Who’s the idiot that set it off”, not “ah, maybe I should evacuate”.

The Blogosphere Is Finished with University. Here’s Proof.

Byrichard

Finished with uni and dissertations

Here is some evidence to demonstrate that I am not the only one to have finished university and there are a lot of really happy people around.

I’ve been so lazy for the past two days because I can. Nothing is hanging over me anymore so I’m taking advantage of this fact. When Monday comes I’ll start being productive again but it’s time for a well-deserved break.

Been listening through half of the top 200 songs of 1990 to 2000 already.

What others are saying

The Post Dissertation Was Great Fun But Now It’s Time To Get Out

Byrichard

I’m really happy to be done with university after three years where I was forced to be in one country rather than another but it’s time to get out of Harrow.

On Wednesday night we were all at the SU bar celebrating the end of the course from 2pm till two or three am and it was great. I hadn’t seen so many people from my grade in one place for months and months. Really refreshing to see.

It’s been a good three years and there are many good memories. It’s time to move on and I think the first step is to get out of halls as soon as Saturday and going back to Switzerland for some rest and recuperation before coming back to the big city for employment and such.

I can look for work from anywhere and flights are relatively cheap in contrast.

I’m going to have to re-think the title of this blog now

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I’m A Martial Artist Typist.

Byrichard

Sometimes you hear about writers and how they fall in love with their machines. I think I’ve begun to love my laptop. I’ve just spent an extraordinary amount of time writing so many words over such a period that the laptop has use marks.

If you look at the trackpad you see that the right side is smoother. If you look at the keys they’re also smooth with use. The space bar has smoothed out where I always press with my thumb. There’s a dark mark where I rest both my hands when I’m typing. The monitor shows signs of degradation.

The repetitive motion of the fingers has developed muscle reflexes that mean that as I sit in one place from which I see people walk by I can observe people and continue writing at the same time. In effect I’ve been touch typing for a year and every computer develops a certain amount of time for the reflex to be perfect. I’m a martial artist at the art of typing 😉

Laptops are great because they become such a big part of your life. You use them every day, from the bad times to the good times, from nice locations to some of the worst. They’re there whatever the weather. They’ve got all your music, all your photographs, possibly some of your video projects and more.

They’ve also got all the software you need from day to day work practices. They’re reflective of the person that uses them.

My Dissertation Is Finished, Handed In.

Byrichard

My dissertation had been finished and ready to print since yesterday afternoon but it’s today that i finally printed out the entire document for handing in to the university for assesment. it’s 10,800 words for some of the most highly produced work I have ever done. It feels good to have handed it in and never to have to worry about it.

Many of the others have handed in the work and it’s going to be celebrated tomorrow although the prospect of spending my first real day of freedom hung over does not appeal to me therefore I’m planning on not drinking.

Now what to do with all this time I’ve got. Find a place to live, find a place to work and more. Everything is there, absolute freedom to do anything at any time i want now.