82. Room 101

Hello everyone, I'm sorry to have neglected my blog, I've just been very busy with writing up lectures, preparing for finals, coursework and my antibiotic resistance project as well as visiting my Mum in hospital and attending various appointments with her. I feel like all I've been doing is moaning on The Life of a Mancunian Sheep lately but don't worry this is the last rant (she says). I've been busy making a few lifestyle changes that I will update you all on in a separate post later this week (hopefully) and a couple of book/ film reviews so watch out for those!

I don't watch much television due to the aforementioned but always make time for Room 101 (I was really looking forward to it last Friday but the rugby changed the schedules). For those of you who aren't familiar with Room 101, it is a television show based on a concept initially mentioned by George Orwell in 1984. In 1984, it is a room where the Ministry of Love places the prisoner in a room containing their worst fears/ most hated items. If you haven't read 1984 then I strongly recommend it, it's a real eye opener! I loved it when Miranda was on Room 101 and she put vegetables out of context into Room 101 and hated the idea of beetroot/ courgette cake. Haha!

I do complain about lots of things but choosing three things to abolish forever was quite difficult. Here are the three things I would put into Room 101 after much deliberation.

1) Paying to view scientific literature. As a biology student, I need to access a lot of scientific journal articles for my assignments and lecture readings. Now my university is brilliant as it has subscribed and paid for so many journals but there are always some that we don't have access to. In my opinion, all scientific literature should be open access to everyone and a price should not be put on knowledge. Nature have produced a new open access journal all about Parkinson's disease so good on them which you can check out here! I hope more journals follow suit

2) People who stand at pedestrian crossings like absolute lemons without pressing the button. Do they think that traffic lights are alive and can see that there's someone waiting to cross? These are then also the people who step out just as the lights turn green so not only are they thick, they're also suicidal.

3) Businesses next to the same type in close proximity in residential areas. This is quite a specific one so let me explain! In Manchester, a prime example of this is the horror that is the Curry Mile. What annoys me the most about this is the lack of creativity and how inconvenient it must be for local residents. I mean I'm all for a bit of healthy competition and not having a monopoly but the Curry Mile and the A6 running through Longsight and Levenshulme are ridiculous. In some places, it is acceptable to have several of the same businesses in close proximity. For example, in the city centre; there is a Costa Coffee, Cafe Nero, another Costa coffee inside Primark all next to each other AND a Starbucks opposite but that's because there is demand in a busy area. I think three should be the maximum for a business type within half a kilometre in a residential area.


What would you put in Room 101?

Until next time, take care.
Love,
Mancunian Sheep x