Clanny House

Here it is, folks — the long-awaited Clanny House post.

Well, maybe not long-awaited, but it was definitely promised as a result of much hinting by my parents that they don't really know much about my humble abode.

This is the view from the doorway of block 1 flat 1, which we share with flat 2. 

The other side of the parking lot. These are pretty typical british cars, and the parking lot is usually about this full. It's a huge switch from Whitworth, where you have to be extremely lucky to get a parking space in the same zip code as your room. 

Block 1, in its entirety.

Every door gets a sign.

My flat's sign, shared with flat 2.

There are more flats than this in block 1, but I ran out of battery in my camera. There are hundreds of rooms, throughout Clanny, though.

Like so. There are at least 11 blocks.

The entrance (shared between flat one and two). 

Artsy? I don't think I really can be artsy with my camera. I was just going for imposing.

Inside the entrance: The fire escape stairs and our door, which gets fliers stuck on it sometimes.

Mail slot! So far, I've got a voter registration form.

Ground floor of flat one. "Store", the closet with no key that I suspect holds cleaning supplies straight ahead, room 1 on the right and the lounge on the left.

The phone that the cleaning lady answers, I think.

I don't know what this phone is for.

Things I'm not supposed to touch.

Secret storage space! Actually, we're not allowed to use it.

It's probably a fire hazard, but I think it'd be great for umbrellas and the vacuum. 

Self-explanatory, although it also houses the kitchen. This provides some misunderstanding, since the "kitchen door" is supposed to be kept shut to prevent the smoke alarms going off, but there is in fact no door between kitchen and lounge. 

Lounge. Our "couch" is three chairs next to each other, and we also have a coffee table and four stools.

Weird stools. I always sit on them backwards or sideways and then fall off when I try to put my feet up.

Refrigerators! The fridge part is on top and the freezer is on the bottom. It took me a bit to get used to that.

We hadn't done the dishes for a few days when I took the picture. We kind of have cycles of piling up the dishes and then frantically cleaning ALL THE THINGS! (from hyperbole and a half, occasionally profane but always hilarious)

Stove, grill, oven. Grill on top, door opens down. Oven underneath, door swings open. Oven is too skinny to hold the grill's cooking tray. Adam calls the stove "the hob".

A typical counter scene.

That's Adam's speaker/ipod dock thing. It has some faulty wiring somewhere, but it's better than nothing.

James the vacuum, who currently lives just inside the lounge, where he trips everyone up. This is why he should live under the stairs, where he is accessible but out of the way.

Up, up, up the stairs we go...

We interrupt your climb up the stairs to bring you... THE WINDOW. We have two stairwell windows, just like all the other flats. My floor doesn't get one, and the lack of outdoor light makes the miniature landing thing rather depressing.

The "down" view isn't that impressive, since we just have the beer bottle that a previous resident left and the broken wooden thing. The roof is for what I believe is something of a shed for the flat that we can't actually access. I think that all the flats have them, although I have not personally verified this.

I think this is the second floor, which houses the shower that mostly the girls use. I don't know about the guy who lives on the second floor, but the guys who live on the fourth floor use the shower that's up there.

This is why there is no shower on the first and third floors: the shower takes up a lot of space.

This is the bathroom, which houses only the apparatus for bathing.

See? Bath. The shower is operated by a little white box with some dials on it for temperature and intensity. The water has to be turned on for each bathroom.

Up, up, up. The stairs are really steep, but not too long.

This is from the top (fourth) floor looking down between the railings.

I think this is a better picture.

The stairs seem steeper going down.

I think this is actually the second floor, but it looks exactly the same as the third floor when you come around the turn in the stairs.

Not my room, but the best way for me to tell if I'm on the right floor yet, i.e. the first thing I see when I  come around the turn.

Another clue. I think this may actually be the only fire escape door in the flat that's not on the ground floor.

The room with the toilet in it, here labeled "WC" for water closet.

It's a very closety sort of room on all floors.

My room! It's a nice sight after a long day.

Not too messy, even. My bed is the one by the window with the classy duvet cover. White and black will always be in style, and they go with everything. Jessi actually just upgraded from the awful bedding pack duvet cover (see my first, or maybe second post for my awful duvet cover) to a pink Glee cover (it's a little pinker than in the picture).
The lighting outside is pretty cool as well. I hadn't noticed that before.

I almost forgot the Ginger Clanny House Cat! 

I got this picture from his facebook profile; I didn't actually take it. 

There it is, Clanny House as far as I'm concerned. I'm extremely fond of it, since it quickly joined the ranks of my homes (like my previous dorm rooms and pretty much anywhere that I stay for over a week, now that I think about it) — it's become a place that signifies safety, warmth, and friendship. Also, I really enjoy doing my own cooking. The only time I don't is when I'm on campus and have to spend at least £2 for a decent meal with a drink instead of just eating something I already paid for and drinking juice that I already bought for way cheaper than I can get anything on campus. Ah, well, c'est la vie (in an awful american accent. My accent has been bothering me lately, to be honest...). Oh, and  I don't like having to cook when I'm sick, but then again, I don't like going to the cafeteria for some toast and overly sweet cranberry juice, either. Besides, my flatmates are all really nice and would cook for me if I needed that much help. They've already offered.