The Box

We themed it as a Box Party, because we call ourselves The Box. We got people to dress up as a box; there was a box of chocolates, robot box costumes, a tissue box. The best one was a Durex box – he had a big cardboard condom he’d pull out as well. Somebody did walk into the sliding window, causing $800 of damage. They were fine; they were just “oh, shit, the door wasn’t open”.

We were attracted to the place by the cheap rent and location. You can’t really beat it; the Bush just over the wall, BP, Liquor King, Countdown. Uni’s just a five to ten minute walk. Thursday night is pretty noisy, because you hear all the drunk people coming back from The Bush. Then you get the trucks coming in to Countdown at 5am – they’re like earthquakes going past. Fire alarms go off randomly in the Countdown carpark as well. But the general location and rent definitely make up for it; ridiculously cheap. We get way more sun than most flats, too.

Our first red card was a series of challenges themed “Six Sides of The Box”, based off reality TV shows. We had a fashion one – Project Boxway. MasterChef as well. That was pretty interesting, trying to cook a steak really drunk. The challenge was lost when someone cut up a porterhouse steak and put it in a stirfry – that’s just not a steak anymore.

Before we break up we want to try drinking on the roof; there are sort of footholds to go up there. We want to hold a farewell party as well; a barbeque – potentially use up all the food left over. We try to share the cooking duties; everyone is pretty good. That “Mug Brownie” recipe in Canta is amazing. Everything seems to break in our kitchen, though. We’ve had so many people put dishes in the oven full of whatever, and they break when we put them on the bench – it’s so cold in winter the temperature difference makes them break. The heat pump didn’t work sometimes over winter, and with thin walls or concrete walls, it gets a bit chilly. We were in like seven layers.

It’s been a pretty good flat this year. We all knew each other from Uni Hall last year, and as first time flatties, it’s worked really well: we’re still alive so far, and we don’t hate each other, which is pretty good.