I Like Cats: Avarice

Avarice means Greed.

And with that over with, let's go on a wee tour.

How fitting that I spent my last evening of no drinking in Dunedin, where I was at University for 2 years in the late 90's. That sounds like ages ago and I guess it was.

Dunedin was a place where I learnt a fair few life lessons, namely, if you don't go to lectures you won't pass, and that carpet covered with beer and wine stops smelling after a couple of months.

Pretty isn't it? The buildings are super nice, apart from some hideous 70's mistakes. Don't be fooled by the blue sky and green trees. Dunedin is a super hell-hole in the winter, which usually goes for about 8 months, and we spent most of our time huddled together on the couch swathed in duvets, each with a blow heater aimed at our feet.

This is the Geology building. I used to go to my Asian Politics lectures here. Go figure.

This was our first flat, at 641 Castle Street. I lived here with 4 other girls, all from nice backgrounds. My mother saw this place and lost it. She couldn't believe I was going to live in a house where the floors sloped, the doors didn't shut and the loo was outside. You can imagine the below zero nights scampering out the door standing on all the broken glass. The flat was condemned, but we begged the owner to let us rent it. He relented, and has obviously been persuaded further, because that was 9 years ago.

We all used to smoke like chimneys, I'd have 1 every ad break, meaning that although I got up at about 11am every day, I'd easily get through a packet. On some cold clear nights the smoke wouldn't disperse, and it would appear that our house was on fire.

My flatmate and I would watch TV all day, from the talk shows, to the children's telly. "Arthur" was my favourite, the little canadian bunny I think he was, with his sister D-W.

I really don't have much recollection of my first year, probably because I was always a) just watching telly or b) getting really drunk. We would go out Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. We would drink a bottle of wine each or share a cask, then head to the pub and drink jugs of beer. It was awesome. Oh to have those days back again.

This was our other haunt. Kings Dairy was right in the middle of Studentville, and must have made a mint from us. They did the best sausage rolls. Every Wednesday after my 4 hour Psych lab I would get 2 sausage rolls and a V energy drink for lunch, and even now, when I get a V, it always tastes like sausage rolls.

This was our second flat. 519C Leith Street. It was called "The Lockwood" and was indeed made from wood. It was way nicer than our previous hovel, and I had a gorgeous room that overlooked the Leith River and the Bot Gardens. I spent most of my time in there, having got my boyfriend back from overseas, and somewhat co-incidentally, the onset of depression, where getting out of bed and facing People, urgh, People, was just too damned hard. By the second semester I wasn't going to any lectures at all, and threw in the towel and went home. Now, I think what a waste, but then I couldn't see any other way out of it. 8 years later I have a great career and some great memories, and who knows, maybe I'll stop shaving my armpits and wear Birkenstocks and become an Adult Student (shudder).