The Candle Factory
Depending on who you live with, there could come a time that your flatmate's hobby or obsession, their latest fad even could turn your tranquil home life upside down. Just ask Ron from London who sent in this wick-edly woeful ode...
"A few years ago, while living in London I shared my flat with a guy from Australia. I’d heard stories about Australians that they can behave oddly sometimes (this is not racist!). Anyway this guy was educated and intelligent and worked in IT business. One day his contract ended and he started looking for a new employment, so suddenly he had too much free time. One evening I opened the front door and there was thick smoke all over the flat. I barely saw the kitchen door at the end of the corridor where all that smoke seemed coming from. I was little panicking, thought the kitchen is in fire… and where the hell are my two kittens … and why the fire alarm doesn’t go on. Also there was something weird with the smoke itself – it did smell as paraffin or candle wax. Then I got into the kitchen and – my flat mate was melting candle wax on the gas cooker, to make candles. All the work tops (even on top of the fridge) was covered with different colors of wax splashes and candle making equipment. Well, I’m artistic myself but this was way too much. I was then quite mad on him; later on we spoke about his candle making and, (silly me) I let him to continue if he keeps the kitchen clean and finishes his experiments by the time I arrive. On fifth day – I think he’d an accident with boiling wax, so whole cooker top was covered with it and he had gone to work interview. Well, it took me about one and half hours to clean up this mess and when he got home I just said: no more candle wax! Guess what, he actually continued processing candles, but secretly, at the time I was off. This month’s gas bill was also nice surprise.Have you had your home turmed into a factory, a production plant or a commercial type of operation? Let me know and the weirder the better!
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Jez
EMAIL: jhall16@gmail.com
DATE: 2006-05-11 02:18:58
My flat mate, a wonderful gal from Mumbai, India, is my best female friend. Unfortunately she has a small thing for potted plants. We have a small ground floor one bedroom flat, and 59 plants! I'm not allowed to have curtains or blinds anywhere but in the bedroom, where we have at least agreed to have no plants. It was working well, the empty bottles from my minor drinking habit, making nice homes for new additions to our small jungle, until she left for a week. Now I am taking care of nearly 60 house plants and have no idea what to do with them. Three days in to my gardening adventure most are looking a little on the dead side of things, I have put them all out on the walk in front of our home in hopes of keeping them alive....to save myself from the wrath of the master gardener!
Albeit not as messy as candle making but defnintely takes up more space! Good luck with tha!
Comments
DATE: 2006-05-12 09:21:49
I do not have a room mate, but as I was reading this, I could only think of my mom. She has collected over 60 cuckoo clocks. Each one running! They are mostly in 2 rooms, but others remain in other rooms. They are constantly going off. She has about 20 left over for parts in her work shop. This is, like you said, a home turned factory.
Posted by: mario | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-05-13 11:53:10
You should've had a plant sale the moment she walked out the door. Spent the money on new furnishings. Teach her a lesson :P
Posted by: Dave the Editor | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-05-14 01:37:05
hey ron i am aussie but not weird lol
Posted by: kim | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-05-14 05:56:32
I'm with Dave on this one. I would have sold them all or if that wasn't an option...I would have taken some of the containers outside and smashed them and put some cuttings in a jar or something as if in vain attempt to "save something" and then tell her your flat was robbed and all the plants broken and ruined and tell her what a horrid time you had trying to save them and to clean up...I would of course, vacuum and clean the surface tops as if there had been dirt and plants on them.
;)~ Sneaky...yea... but oh well.
You COULD just grab yourself by the b_ _ _ s and tell her that it is TOO MUCH and You WILL have blinds wherever you want them, that privacy is not only important to you, in MANY areas it is a law to NOT be an exhibitionist. In the USA you can be charged with a sex crime if people outside your home can see you unclothed inside your home...especially if children could conceivably see it.
Posted by: ~Maggie!~ | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-05-14 07:22:15
One of my housemates, makes homemade beer, and about once a week the house in inudated with the awful smell of malt. The kitchen looks like a mad scientist moved in temporarily. Ironically he is a chemistry student at uni. We have an entire bedroom dedicated to "storing" the bottles he uses, and the giant containers that the beer does it's thing in. The worst bit is that the beer isn't very good, let's hope he gets better!
Posted by: Chrissy | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-05-16 05:13:27
JUST FYI - I live in the US (Denver, Colorado.) It is not correct that a person could be charged with a sex crime if people outside the house can see them naked. Everyone has every right to walk around in their homes naked, with the blinds open or closed. It doesn't mean there is any sex crime going on because nobody has to look into the windows of another person's home.
There may be specific laws in certain areas prohibiting this, (which I have never heard of.) Certainly, if a person inside exposed themselves to children who could see them from outside of the home on purpose, they would get in trouble, but that is an illegal act. Just being naked inside one's own home is not an illegal act.
It would be different if they were living with a roommate who objected to this behaviour, however, it would probably be very difficult to bring charges against the nudist, as the police would just tell the person complaining to find a more suitable roommate.
It is perfectly fine to walk around naked in your own house in full view of the windows in the US, have sex, whatever, (as long as the act is legal,) without reprecussions. The problems start if you go outside or even onto a balcony of your home naked, or are caught exposed or having sex outside of your home, even in a car, concealed under a bush in a park, or whatever.
This issue is, a person in the privacy of his own home is allowed to do whatever is legal, be naked, have sex with a willing adult partner, whatever. The problem is perceived to be that the person looking in would be a voyeur, not that it is necessary to have curtains or blinds drawn your home whenever you are not clothed. Of course, a person could be an exhibitionist intentionally hoping to attract attention, however, it is the onlookers responsibility to avoid looking at whatever offends them, so it is up to them not to stare into a window if what the person who dwells there is walking around naked, or whatever.
This does not hold true if you are committing illegal acts, such as having sex with a minor, commiting spousal abuse, useing drugs, etc., in your house but where others can look in through a window & see. If reported, the police have reasonable cause to follow up on the complaint & make arrests.
Posted by: Nicoll | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-05-18 19:57:49
a housemate of mine couldn't work out why his window-sill bamboo plant kept turning yellower and yellower, drooping lower day by day.
i gave him a solid week before pointing out that the kettle nozzle was positioned directly beneath the plant, and the steam from every boil wasn't having a positive effect.
Posted by: Richie | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-06-19 21:36:29
Candles seem to be the rage for gifts nowadays, but I think making a candle for someone you care about is better than just buying one. Besides you can personalised it with colour, scent etc to suit the person you are giving the candle too. It's great to make cnadles, so much fun and easy to do.
Posted by: Tammy | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM