A different class of fool

[nmg]

I wonder whose idea it was to get together a bunch of undergraduate friends and brand each other with a branding iron fashioned from a coat-hanger. A branding iron, moreover, with the initials of their hall of residence.

I know that I got up to some damnfool stuff as an undergraduate, but this is really quite special. There's more at the BBC and in the Exeter student rag [PDF].

"Rootez C Block 4 Life"

(and yes, I know I owe a few posts - one on my trip to California over the summer, a Pete Fenelon Memorial Top Five, and this season's "dear undergraduates" missive)

Comments

[lionsphil.livejournal.com]

Tsk, fratboy antics. How American.

"Onlookers said large amounts of alcohol had been consumed at the party..."

Well, that's hardly a surprise—once again one can overhear freshers boasting to eachother about how quickly they're emptying their wallets in their quest for permanent liver damage (quite literally, in fact—what is this, Brewster's Millions?) all over campus. I actually saw some of them hefting away a traffic cone the other day.

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

The best and the brightest, embodying the shining academic hope of the next generation of leaders and businessmen.

God help us.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Ah, Phil. You've no idea how happy it makes me to hear you griping about undergrads in those tones. Truly, I have taught you well, young padawan.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

I bet Bush and Kerry can both boast some coathanger burns from their time in Yale.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

A burns specialist has warned the students will have permanent scarring.

Wait, I thought that was the *point* of branding?

Also, aside from the unsanitary part, how is this different from ill-considered tattoos?

[nmg.livejournal.com]

It's more along the lines of a blurry self-made tattoo done with a sewing needle and a ballpoint pen, than an ill-considered tattoo done by a professional.

[kludge.livejournal.com]

That's a thought - they should have gone for the Penn Gillette option! Professional Tattooing, no ink.

• Not permanent


• Considerably more painful, therefore more macho

[cdave]

The JM4K5 gang will kick you from Redfern to Gibbet Hill.

(We had our 10 year start-of-uni kitchen reunion this summer. Out of the original corridor, 6 of us are still in regular contact, along with a few friends of the corridor)

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Jack Martin! How posh are you, with your ensuite bathroom?

I actually started off in Whitefields 12, but the flat descended into open warfare just after Christmas, and they split the flat and moved us all over campus.

Rootes C was much nicer, even if the kitchen was dead pokey.

[cdave]

Just posh enough is the answer ;)

One of my mates from school ended up doing the same course as me, and living in Arthur Vick. He couldn't stand it. He liked our corridor so much he ended up marrying one of them.

Whitefields? Party central man.

Sorry to hear you had a bad time. I remain stunned that over half of our randomly flung together group still maintain contact.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

I wasn't that bothered, to be frank. Whitefields 12 is the second closest flat to the union, and was incredibly noisy. We also had a bit of an issue with some enterprising third years dealing from the flat. I've kept in touch with one of the people from the flat, but most I was happy to see the back of. I ended up hanging around with filmsoc and the SF society instead, which was a lot more fun.

Moreover, the shitty rooms in Whitefields were pretty dreadful. The flats badly needed a refurbishment (they did it two years after I moved out), and the design of the rooms meant that you couldn't have natural light *and* somewhere to hang your clothes (freestanding double-sided wardrobe in a crooked L-shaped room with six walls). No sink in the room was a pain as well.

After that, Old Rootes was paradise; a reasonable view, lots of light, non-arsehole flatmates and somewhere to put my toothbrush and fill up my kettle. Lots more bathrooms and showers in Old Rootes too - Whitefields had one bath and one shower between twelve, Rootes had four showers and two baths between sixteen. The tiny kitchen was a bit of a pain, but they reduced the rent to compensate.

Arthur Vick is way after my time...

[jorune.livejournal.com]

Whitefields always struck me as appalling compared to accommodation elsewhere but then I prefer my own space as opposed to the extravert's and exhibitionists you saw as you walked past them.

[elseware.livejournal.com]

I am deeply glad that the only scars I have from Bencraft are the mental ones.

[ruthj.livejournal.com]

Youch!

JM1 4 EVA

I had the party-sized room at the end of the corridor. Happy times.