h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello!

Had to stop by because having spent far too long in the fair(well, usually grey and drizzly) city myself I always have the urge to greet fellow students of said university. Which college? I was at the poly-on-the-hill (Mildert). Then went back a few years later and worked locally, living out at Sainsburys (Newton Hall).

OK, bored you enuff now!

Jules

Hello there; thanks for dropping by.

I'm at John's, Anti-Nestlé Campaign Headquarters; that used to be stated on my Personal Space (apart from the information on our Nestlé policy), but the information didn't make it into the new, jazzed-up, GuideML-based version. (I don't know what springs to mind when you think of John's, but after the last D.S.U. General Meeting, when our J.C.R. proposed a motion overturning a decision to lift the D.S.U. Shop's Nestlé ban, and moral conviction and the promise of a free drink each from our Senior D.S.U. Rep brought lots of us to Dunelm House to help it through, I suspect that our anti-Nestlé policy will become pretty well embedded in our reputation, if it isn't already.)

Blimey. Hadn't actually heard of that, your reputation tended to be more along the lines of Bailey college with links to the Christian Ordination place elsewhere. Think I graced your bar a few times. A friend I met before going to Durham was JCR president at one point (Carolyn Jackson) and I'm sure I've been to a wedding since Durham where one of your high-ups (was it the principal?) spoke. He may have beeen a Reverend.

But good for you on the Nestle thing - when I was at college (ah, those were the days) everyone was against them, in every shop. Or so I remember.

Spooky that I noticed you were a Durhamite today - got the VMC yearbook through the post this morning. They want 52 pounds for a twin bedroom at the reunion!! (ie a single room with two beds in it) Will be looking around before committing to that.

Jules

Our principal is the Reverend Sykes; and given the college's links to the Anglican and Methodist ministries, it's quite possible that previous principals were also ordained. There's a set of photographs of chaps in clerical collars near Reception that I think may depict former principals.

I think we still are generally thought of as 'that college with the trainee vicars', or something similar, at least among the 99% or so of students who don't attend D.S.U. General Meetings. We aren't usually that confrontational -- although one of the people standing to be a Freshers' Rep. next year did get a very positive reception for pledging to form next year's freshers 'into a band of warriors so we can declare war on Hatfield'. Actually, I don't really get out of college enough to have that much idea of what our reputation is; since I'm not interested in visiting bars, not much could lead me to visit the other colleges unless I wanted to attend a D.S.U. Council meeting.

Good luck with the accommodation hunt. The University is into belt-tightening at present (have you heard about the department closures?) and there's apparently been some financial pressure put on the colleges -- and some tension between the University and the Recognised Colleges (of which John's is one), although unfortunately I don't know any more than that -- so they're probably looking upon you as a potential source of easy income.