Student life

[mmoa]

This morning I killed the largest cockroach I have seen in this hemisphere and probably half-poisoned myself in the process. From the looks of it, it was an adult (and probably female so I had to disinfect the entire room in case the eggs had got spread around) which meant that the roach spray didn't have as much of an effect on it as just whapping

Comments

[flutterbyeaten]

I recently found out that one of my student houses had a large infestation of roaches. I am not surprised that a) the roaches were there because the place was a total pit or b) my housemates kept this information from me as I probably would not have slept. I never saw one, not even dead, thank god!

[mmoa]

Meurgh! I'm luckier than my housemates tbh, one of whom was annoyingly slobby until it occurred to him that the takeaway boxes on the floor might have something ot do with them predominantly taking residence in his room. My other housemate is always up before me, so has the dubious pleasure of seeing them (alive or dead) before I do.

Two funny things. Firstly, I am now not so much disgusted (well, I am, but that's not the point) by them as I am angry that they've invaded the sanctuary of our house, which helps enormously when it comes to seeking them out to end their miserable existences (this is very Nigerian matriarch apparently). Secondly, using a strictly scientific methodology with respect to their elimination has helped me get over much of my squeamishness/dislike for them but has resulted in me knowing far much more about them than is healthy.

[flutterbyeaten]

Hmmmm I wouldn't call that lucky, just sensible, though what you are describing seems quite like my first student house. Let me guess, male physics and engineering students? Definitely not life scientists at any rate (I hope)! One issue we have in certain parts of town here is that some of the student houses have been that way for perhaps half a century now. Who knows what kind of odd things may be living in the walls! In our cockroach house we also had silverfish. It's funny I never saw a roach, I was always a bit paranoid we had them but until recently thought we had miraculously got away without a severe infestation. This is not the case for the basement kitchen apparently

[mmoa]

Let me guess, male physics and engineering students?

No, that was the worst thing! It was one of our mystery housemates, a guy doing his Masters in Management. From the sounds of it, he's the sort whose mother used to do everything in the house and seems genuinely surprised that the rubbish doesn't magically disappear by itself or that cleaning up involved getting rid of the mess you've made.

I think I'm definitely going down the council route as our landlord is playing hard to get irritatingly enough.