It was a long time ago, but I had a very happy and interesting life as a student… even though there was angst and trauma… well there has to be really, doesn’t there!
When I first went to Manchester, there was no student accommodation for students from the Polytechnic, in fact there was not even a list of places which might accommodate us. For the first few days i stayed with the sister of a friend of my father’s and then i found lodgings with a lady in Cheshire. Before very long I had made friends and moved back to the city to share a ghastly bed-sit at the top of an old house, sharing a bathroom and toilet with complete strangers.
In my second year I moved into a ‘flat’ with friends. We had a sitting room, a bedroom and a shared kitchen and shared bathroom with other strangers in the house. Now for some reason or another… and I really and honestly can’t remember what the reason was, there was a massive falling out between me and my two flat-mates. All I can remember is being in the sitting room, with them and a friend (former friend of mine) on one side, and me and two friends on the other, and two other people who had to add their say… there were tears, anger, upset, accusations, recriminations… but I have no idea what about!
It ended up with me sleeping in the flat but spending every other moment either with my friends or at college… that was part of what student life was like, and that is what it still is, I guess!
Lois Elsden 