Netherhall

I wanted to write this down since I moved into Netherhall, but I always forget. This hall is rather extraordinary in many ways. First of all, the individual bedrooms do not have keyholes and so, there are no keys (or anything else) to lock the rooms. In other words, anyone can barge into the room as and when they wish. Seems a bit hair-raising in the beginning, but as one gets used to it, this “security issue” becomes redundant. I don’t know if thefts are common in the hall or not, but so far there are no thefts at all. So a lot of security actually depends on our own vigilance, the integrity of all the other hall mates and lastly, how much trust we have in each other.

Second, there is no internet access in the bedrooms, though there are common laboratories where we can lug our lap tops from our bedrooms to, and then plug them in to get connected with the whole wide world… I need to get used to this, especially since I am so used to leaving my machine on 24 hours 7 days a week when I was in Camden. Without the internet at my fingertips, I feel disconnected with the world. Then there is this stupid and pointless firewall, which I tried very hard to bypass and alas, I found the software Hopster to bypass and tunnel it (all the rest e.g. Http-tunnel just cannot work). But download speeds are damn slow, I give up. The verdict: no more free movies from now on.

Then, this hall has got curfews. Haha, an all men’s hall and yet, there is curfew. The times are actually reasonable but I just can’t accept the existence of curfews. A bit absurd and ridiculous, just like army and NS, but I guess it just takes time to get used to it. Anyway, rules are meant to be broken. So, let’s see…

One more thing is the laundry service. The hall provides such service at an exorbitant price of 7 pounds per week. And this has to be paid termly in advance for every week in the term, even though say, you don’t want to wash clothes for a week. So, the laundry cost actually amounts to 70 odd pounds per term. This is ridiculous man. I can’t imagine myself paying S$210++ (for 10 weeks) to do my laundry. And there are no other washing machines available in the hall. The hall is like giving you no other alternative except to succumb to their over-priced laundry service. This sucks big time man. So, I am not giving in and am still scouting around Hampstead for a reasonably-priced self-service laundrette. I can’t believe I have to wash my clothes in a public place with all the other British uncles and aunties. I thought such scenarios only appear in Mr Bean and Friends and the like. Hmm… this should be a novel experience in the days to come.

Despite all the negative attributes about this hall, everything else is fabulous. The food is ok, the people are very friendly, even the Brits (I’m amazed). Actually, living in Hampstead already outweighs everything else. I think if nothing goes wrong in the days to come and if I’m able to tolerate all the above mentioned, I might possibly stay here in my third year. I thought Camden was good, but I would never expect there is another place in London better than Camden. Hampstead is simply gorgeous and awesome that no words would do it justice. I have yet to explore the little shops, restaurants and pubs though, and of course Hampstead Heath. Shall go jogging there when the opportunity arises.