AIBU to think old bangers and student dumps were character building?

[Renamedefault]

My first car was a total shitheap. Clapped out. But I loved it, it gave me lots of anecdotes (like not being able to use the radio if the lights were on), and I genuinely appreciated working up to what I currently have.

Similarly, my first experience of living independently was at University, when me and three friends trawled the student area to rent a four bedroom dump, with a hole in one ceiling, a damp bathroom, and dubious furnishings, from someone who can only be described as a slum-lord.

We had some great times.

Nowadays new drivers tend to get something far more serviceable, even new, and a lot of students have modern, clean, well maintained accommodation.

Objectively I know nowadays is better but AIBU to think there was something about having a shitheap of a car and living in a dump that was sort of a rite of passage, something character building. Or am I just a nostalgic old git?

I don't think anyone would aspire to the sort of house I shared with four other girls in the Midlands. It was freezing but we put on multiple layers of clothes. We scrubbed mould off the bathroom wall every week. An amazing fungus ( possibly a puff ball) was growing on one of the window cills. There was a very dodgy gas fire and we got well acquainted with the emergency gas engineers. ( Landlord did get taken to court) We learned how to fix blocked sinks, budget, cook had a fabulous time. Still all friends over 40 years later.

I do look back v fondly on my absolutely horrendous student rentals. I was spoiled because I was in halls first year and ours were brand new that year, so they were really posh, newly fitted out and ensuites and everything. Finding out our second year house was basically a knocking shop for woodlice was an experience by comparison (but one we loved and which taught me loads about pest control, dodgy electrics, how to keep a draughty house warm, how to tackle mould, and landlord negotiation tactics).

There are still plenty of shithole student houses around though. My cousin is moving into one in Fallowfield in September that looks vile, she can't wait.

You had to grow up fast back then as you were just dumped in it. At uni I lived in a place with no central heating just a coal range that only really heated the kitchen and hot water but it was £20 a week. No coal, no shower. Drafty windows that had ice on the inside in winter, crap food as we could barely cook and plenty of subsidised beer in the union. We had one old commie lecherous lecturer that would even let us smoke during lectures.

Between our group of housemates one of us would usually have a heap of a car that might or might not start. Got marooned in some really out of the way places but some kind local would always lend us girls a hand to get whatever banger we had running or give us a lift home.

Sad the world has changed so much really.

Well, if it cheers you up, OP, I work at a university and, despite the glossy marketing photos, there are plenty of problems with our accommodation and the local landlords are still absolutely ripping students off with substandard, poorly maintained and overcrowded shared houses, it's just that they also charge them loads for that. So that's great news!

I was in a shithole with no heating. It wasn't character building, it was just cold and horrible.

nope- broke down on the side of the road at 2 o clock in the morning. That is not character building, it’s bloody terrifying and could have ended very badly!!!

Hmm, I'm glad DD's university accommodation was a measure better than my own was 30 years ago. At least that it didn't have dodgy gas appliances.

It is still not amazing though and pretty basic, just for three times the cost. They had a rat infestation as they moved in which quite surpassed anything that happened in my student digs. The house next year looks a bit better.

I'm really glad DDs are not driving 1970s British rust buckets with a sticky clutch as I did in the 1990s and that they have basic small modern cars with NCAP 4+ safety ratings.

Not sure where a lot of the youngsters referred to on this thread are going to uni or what level of wealth they come from!

Both of my DC who graduated within the last five years had and continue to have bangers and lived in disgusting shitholes as students!

DS's final house in Leeds was honestly one of the most disgusting dwelling places I have ever entered and I was a student myself in the late 80s and early 90s. DD's final house in Nottingham was only marginally less vile. It had a big hole in the wall that went from the living room to the outside and the landlord kept promising to fix it - which never happened. They just put the sofa in front of it.

Other than the fact they had Wifi and an actual shower, as opposed to a rubber hose attached to the bath, I didn't see any huge improvement in shared housing accommodation, although I accept that halls of residence are better.

It only translates into nostalgia when you’re far removed from the situation. You wouldn’t feel this way if you still had to live like this and had your whole life. It’s giving Common People energy…

Student accommodation is still horrible. A lot of shitholes. The difference now is that it’s expensive. Modern cars are made not to survive very long, so you won’t see many very old ones. Again, they are expensive. I feel sorry for students as everything is comparatively so costly.

Absolutely. I do sometimes look back fondly in my days living in a house where the kitchen had a hole in it into the outside world and slugs came in through it. But only because I now live in a house with solid, intact walls!

Possibly.
But I felt it was something all students should experience when I was still living like that. It wasn't nostalgia, more wanting them to understand what living situations are like for many people, and to appreciate if they have more later on.

The first house I bought had the odd slug visiting the kitchen. The walls were pretty solid...in 1893. Needing a bit of work in 2006.

I lived in some grotty dumps as a student and when I first came to London. When I bought my first house I felt a sense of security and well being that I have never forgotten.

While no one should have to live or drive in a way that is unsafe, learning to cope when things are a bit difficult or uncomfortable is a really valuable life lesson. Same goes for travelling by public transport, staying in low budget hostels or camping or simply having to be resourceful and make do when things aren't perfect!

I agree, not exactly that shit cars and terrible accommodation were a good thing, but they were part of a culture that encouraged independence and dealing with adversity, lessons that built resilience, a culture that has largely gone.

Everyone has their own expertise and risk tolerance but I think the 'normal' level of risk aversion today does young people no favours. There was some fun and satisfaction to be had from keeping that old banger going, also a level of knowledge that could get you out of a scrape.

I went to uni as an older student. No car but I got a 3 bedroom maisonette on one of the toughest estates in Manchester - now demolished. There were shabeens every weekend, drug dealing and guns going off regularly. I lived there for 5 years while I did my first degree and masters, It was a massive culture shock to live there but it sure toughened me up. It made me into a carnivore in a land where gruel is the native dish. Strangely enough they were some of the happiest years of my life.

YANBU, I've got a massive character 😆

However, I lived in squats as a student. So yes, no heating, kitchen ceiling fell in for no reason, had to move from place to place loads...but also didn't have to worry about rent and there was a fantastic community.

Exactly this. It’s one thing ‘slumming it’ when you have a safety net. Quite another thing when it’s your only choice.

That said, I do think it is important for young people who do have a safety net to learn that it’s there for emergencies, not luxuries - otherwise you don’t develop tenacity, resilience and decision-making and problem solving skills (and you come across as a bit of a smug twat)

I have wondered if kids student private rental flats has given them unrealistic expectations for when they leave uni - but DD1 loves hers and I think she'll have fond memories.

I also look back and think our worst rentals were post uni and damp one when we had kids. Having to wait to do things in house after we bought first was hard - and we had some very hard years then with money- though they were very happy but I think they'd have been equally happy if money had been less tight and we'd had to contend with less life crap as well.

My thoughts turned to the Young Ones too @TheProvincialLady !

I didn't go to university, although I did visit friends at theirs, so have seen mid 80s student accommodation. I would travel to them in my shit 1970s car. It had a sunroof that leaked and had been repaired with gaffer tape.

(I have actually drunk in The Kebab and Calculator. Well, the pub that was used for the series).

I was re-watching This Life and commented on this. Not squalor, but things just very, very normal, make do sort of thing. Now everything would look fantastic and Instagramable.

The 90s were THE best! A damp, possibly subsidence riddled basement flat. Trying to coax my lovely little pink (was once red) Peugeot into life every morning. Living on Pot Noodle and toast because I spent my money on bad decisions. Glorious!

Oh my clapped out metro with the choke, that used to roll if you parked it on a hill (actually had to put bricks by the wheels so it stayed in one place), I bloody loved it. Also our student shit hole with the sofa we got out of a skip and spray painted. Good times, fuelled by snake bite and black

I’m jealous. I got a 957cc Fiesta didn’t even have a radio.
Bought a Blaupunkt stereo and it got stolen after two weeks.
Didn’t get my first new car until I was 30 and I was so proud.
The Fiesta was off the road and I gave up on it. Woke up one morning and it had been stolen. God knows why it was rusted with a flat battery.