AFTER driving the minibus for Ski Club I've noticed an interesting phenomenon. As soon as you pull off, people want you to put music on - the music requested is usually in the form of cheese, pop or RnB. Now as the minibus driver responsible for 15 other people's lives, you want to be totally relaxed while driving, so you'd rather have something else on.
  THE secret seems to be to leave the diplomatically selected station on for about 10 minutes, then subtly start turning the volume down. There will become a point at which people don't really notice that you've turned it down, and continue laughing and talking. You are now free to select something like Jazz FM, or Radio 3.
  THE only problem with the plan above is that the new minibuses have large bright LCD screens that display JAZZ FM or RADIO 3 so clearly, that it can be seen right from the back of the bus. This means that anyone that is not in the conversation will suddenly notice and shout "WHAT THE! WE'RE LISTENING TO JAZZ FM!!" and they will all demand that you put Crapital FM back on. Don't worry however, wait another 10 minutes and you can safely change it back again!
  ALSO, what is it with people sticking things in their windows that make it look like there is a cardboard cut out stuck in their window? There must be at least 4 campus rooms that have cut outs stuck in their window. Wouldn't it actually be better if you paid a real people to sit there instead? There must be some monkeys around that would do it for very little pay.
  IN Battersea Court windows you could stick the person on the window ledge, and then put a wire netting thing across from one wall to another. This way you could make sure that the person couldn't come in your room when it got cold, and if you didn't want to see them you could just shut the curtains. Obviously the wire netting would be big enough to fit pieces of food through, and sticks to prod the person when they were getting boring.

  EVERYONE has experienced noisy housemates who keep you 'entertained' with loud music, partying, talking... but I've just returned home to the sound of bagpipes! Yes, someone in Battersea Court appears to be playing the bagpipes in their room as I write. Rawson seems to be a rather musical house - at the moment we can boast two violins, an electric violin, electric viola, two full sized pianos, a melodica, flute, recorder and several guitars. But I don't think that even Chris, who is well known for his piano playing and singing antics on the floor above, has reached the dizzy heights of bagpipe playing… yet…
  THE boys on my floor have managed to find another pastime other than 'playing war' recently - 'playing playstation'. My initial reaction, and that of several other housemates, was to breathe a huge sigh of relief - surely nothing can be as loud as the ambushes of the final week of last semester? Think again. As anyone coming within about a fifty metre radius of Rawson will have heard, the boys of Rawson 2 do not take their football computer gaming lightly. During the first couple of weeks, the three of them spent around six hours a day screaming at the TV screen as they scored, saved, tackled and no doubt were awarded a few red cards here and there. If the University football teams had supporters that enthusiastic, they'd definitely be onto a winner every time!
  I'M considering making a list of ambitions I want to achieve before I graduate in the scarily near future. Every time I look out of my window towards Court Reception and the GU2 studios I can see a metal ladder with a rather bizarre cylindrical casing at the top just waiting to be climbed. I'm not sure exactly where it leads, but that's all part of the mystery and excitement… after all, having climbed the 'golf ball' by the lake countless times over the past four years, I should be looking for new challenges with which to expand my horizons…
  THE bagpipes have stopped - peace at last… until the next football game begins!