Are you In or Out?

[M_for_Mother]

Having spent the past 3 years of my career living in a Mess (quite literally in my case!), I think I have truly had enough of being a Liver-In. I am tired of:

1. Sharing my meals with the same faces.

2. Staring at my sad collection of Service Furniture.

3. Having The Times nicked by some theiving tw@t every sunday morning.

The only advantage I can think of is the presence of a hot and cold running urinal in the corner of my room.

So what do you reckon, is it better to live in or out?

[The Controller]

Having spent the past 3 years of my career living in a Mess (quite literally in my case!), I think I have truly had enough of being a Liver-In. I am tired of:

1. Sharing my meals with the same faces.

2. Staring at my sad collection of Service Furniture.

3. Having The Times nicked by some theiving tw@t every sunday morning.

The only advantage I can think of is the presence of a hot and cold running urinal in the corner of my room.

So what do you reckon, is it better to live in or out?

Oh...Live out definitely!!!

1. You get to share your meals with the same.......Doh!

2. Staring at the same old furn......Doh!

3. Having the New of the Screws nicked by your Wife every....Doh!

The only advantage I can think of....is the presence of a Mess Cooked breakfast every Sunday morning when I'm supposed to be out walking my (fictitious) dog!

Maybe my first observation was a little hasty????:o Living in is great!:D

[Who? Me?]

I can only comment from a Jnr's perspective, but I was given a flat to live in for my last overseas tour (one of the hardships we had to endure, that and a bar 3 minutes walk away that had to have a menu for it's beer, 200 + different types), and upon my return to the UK had to move back into the block. After that wrenching move I decided that I had to move out into my own place and I'm so glad I did.

Being able to eat what I want when I want, not having to share the bathroom with other people, not getting woken up at daft o'clock by drunken idiots coming back and playing music really loud etc etc. Living out far outstrips living in, however attending functions starts to become more of a hassle when transport is not provided, but as you are a member of the mess this will be less of a problem as you can get a room in the mess (jnr transit rooms normally harder to come by).

So all in all, make the jump on to the ladder and start enjoying the benefits of being able to walk around your own house naked, just remember to make sure the curtains are drawn first. :o

[Plumber]

I've been living out for the last 10 years or so and have to say I would find it very hard to go back to living in permanently. Yes its nice when you live in and all your meals are cooked for you with none of the cleaning up afterwards, attending functions present no problems such as transport and so on and so on, but thats about the only plus points to it.
I'm not saying that living out doesn't have its down sides but for me its much better than living on base in sub standard accommodation which you'd think twice about making a dog live in.
Go for it, get out, buy your own place and help keep house prices up.:PDT_Xtremez_15:

[Twonston Pickle]

I too enjoy walking around the house on "Naked Sunday" and would very reluctantly go back to living-in if posted elsewhere.

[M_for_Mother]

At least a house has proper walls, I have lost count of the number of times I drift off to sleep whilst the occupant of the room next door indulges in a very loud, very protracted sh@gging session just feet from my head!!!

Its not all bad though, we can discuss their performance over lunch the next day - thats real friendship. Anyone got any good stories about Mess/Block Life?

[Bluntend]

At a previous mess 'Naked Thursday Nights/Friday Mornings' wern't uncommon. :PDT_Xtremez_41:

Must admit, the best messes I've ever lived in have been those run by blue suiters. There just seems to be something lacking about civvi run messes - things tend to get sorted quicker when there's a WO/FS Mess Manager.

I live out now so barely use my Mess. Tend to crash at mate's houses for local or on base events because, as a liver-out, getting a room in the Mess is virtually impossible. Because we host a couple of UAS Sqns they get priority over room alocation, which has put a few backs up in the past.

There are definately pros and cons to living on or off base. From experience, the general standard of accommodation is pretty low at every level, and some of the 'new build' accommodation is a tad dubious too. That said, if you have a good Mess Committee and a good bunch of livers-in life can be pretty good.

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

When living in the batting staff would frequently break my model aircraft! ::/:

(Making the models was the best way of stopping myself spending all night every night in the bar)

Now I live out, I am no longer allowed to complain when the cleaner (sometimes called "my wife") breaks a model - apparently I should not have left it there, allowed dust to settle on it, etc.. :PDT_Xtremez_40:

[Plumber]

Now I live out, I am no longer allowed to complain when the cleaner (sometimes called "my wife") breaks a model - apparently I should not have left it there, allowed dust to settle on it, etc.. :PDT_Xtremez_40:


Well how many times do you need to be told not to leave them lying around? The rule is simple, if you leave it lying around looking like it belongs in the bin, then quess where its going to go.

To be fair to her though, maybe she's just doing you a favour in getting rid of the evidence of this rather dubious activity.:PDT_Xtremez_15:

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

she did accuse me of being childish (in reference to my model planes)

Childish? me?!? she was the one who, when I was having my bath, came into the bathroom and sank all my ships!

[Plumber]

I bet you've got a rubber duck from Habitat as well. ::/: Oh god you do don't you:PDT_Xtremez_42:

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

Nope. I don't have any toy ships, nor do I normally bathe (I shower)

I was merely quoting Woody Allen.

[Plumber]

Nope. I don't have any toy ships, nor do I normally bathe (I shower)

I was merely quoting Woody Allen.

Mmmmmm. I'm not entirely convinced, maybe I should check with the boss (her indoors).:PDT_Xtremez_41:

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

I was merely quoting Woody Allen.


Now that is a dubious hobby...:PDT_Xtremez_15:

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

The boss is best avoided presently.

I've spent so much on plastic kits, glue and paint that she has had to forego her nicotine fixes this year. Not pretty. :PDT_Xtremez_08:

[DoesMyBumLookBigInThis?]

I am being made to move back IN...AWFUL!!
I have my own place in the depths of Norfolk where I lived and cooked and entertained happily and got to have a 'normal' existance but as I was being moved to the rather more expensive South my meagre salary and common sense would have slight starting problems with buying a one bed flat for £189,000 or a small box house for £210,000. Thankfully, I accepted the particular posting as i was told I would have a SSSA flat - bonus!! As I detest being in the mess and strangely, by having a life I have accumulated more belongings that can fit into 24ft squared!
Well all was going jolly well - as may hae been picked up from various other forums I spend a good deal travelling but I always have somewhere to come home too - bless! As family all live a million miles away in places the good old MOD give me hassle about going I am on my own over here (always found that amusing - I can't go to my Disabled OAP Great Aunts house for Christmas day but a tent within spitting distance an Arab nation that consider me an Infidel with elements who want to permanently erase me from existance is fine for personal security??? Go figure! A whole different thread could start) therefore, in the words of an old song - wherever I lay my hat...
Anyway, I digress..
While on some det or other - get a call to say that I am being kicked out of said flat as the RAF are saving supposedly saving money (agree with the sentiment - but probably would have reconsidered the posting had I have known the distruption it was about to cause!) But its okay - they have built PORTACABINS as they actually have still failed to sort out the accomodation shortage anyway!! The Annex is made up of battle grey paper thin construction (you will hear your neighbour doing all sorts of nasty things in their room now!) and have built in unremovable furniture with about 5 ft of floorspace and a single bed - so should you put a double in there will be zero space! The place is a eyesore in front of what is actually a rather attractive mess buiding and is the most demoralising set up known to man (next to Marham OM which consistently has no hot water or electricity...)
The other options were to move to Uxbridge (where you aren't really considered part of the mess there either as you are from HW so you have the rooms they don't want plus its a b*tch of a daily journey with not much to travel back too). There is talk of converting a block at Halton - but it needs some serious H&S work done to it..
Asked to rent an excess quarter - but hell no! That is reserved for married people who might arrive in teh next 3 years (apart from the fact they could triple their income by renting it out to 3 reponsible Officers - don't even start me!) Thankfully a fellow orifice has gone on det and offered up his suite for the use of so I don't have to sleep on top of my telly!
To rent out around the area is £700+ for a council flat where refugees get to live for free and as I am away a lot I am bitter about paying that kind of rent!
Trying to buy another property but never about long enough to find/view/offer/complete on anywhere....


:PDT_Xtremez_34:

[Plumber]

DMBLBIT. Is there no chance of doing what the lads do and grouping together with a couple of mates and renting somewhere. The advantage of this would be you could get somewhere quite large without paying through the nose for it by yourself, I know it isn't the ideal solution but it might be one.

BengO I know how crafty the boss is at getting her nicotine fixes, Are you sure she hasn't been getting them?:PDT_Xtremez_15:

[DoesMyBumLookBigInThis?]

Oh I forgot to mention...
As a 'career' officer who has chosen not to marry at this stage and trying to give time and energy into trying to make something of this RAF malarky I am entitled to f**k all! Should I want one of those said empty excess quarters I need to either get myself 'up the duff' to put it so eloquently or shack up with another chick and claim myself a lesbian or marry a mail order husband....where is the world going?
In all seriousness though - how many people do we or are we going to see in suprising 'same sex' marriages or young girls getting preggers as the RAF will give them a decent place to live...???:PDT_Xtremez_35:

[DoesMyBumLookBigInThis?]

DMBLBIT. Is there no chance of doing what the lads do and grouping together with a couple of mates and renting somewhere. The advantage of this would be you could get somewhere quite large without paying through the nose for it by yourself, I know it isn't the ideal solution but it might be one.

BengO I know how crafty the boss is at getting her nicotine fixes, Are you sure she hasn't been getting them?:PDT_Xtremez_15:
It is one of the considerations at the moment - but as I didn't live in the mess in the first place and I am rarely about I don't know an awful lot of people there yet and where I work they are mainly married or bean stealers...

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

The quality of mess accn is generally awful. My days living in the mess at Brize are thankfully behind me - it's can't be that often that you actually consider moving out of the Mess into The Gateway as a positive step! :PDT_Xtremez_34:

I recently attended a cse at Uxbridge and stayed in the mess. dreadful. NO facilities whatsoever for guests aside from the bar (no tv room for non-livers-in and a woefully rubbish selection of reading material in the ante room). The postage-stamp sized radiator in the room was incapable of heating it and this was quite a modern block too.

Contrast this with the mess at Waddington - the room was en-suite and the food was devine - felt like I was eating gormet style! But dress standards of 1 or 2 livers-in left much to be desired (i'm all for relaxed rules but hoodies and baggy skateboard-style jeans?!?) - that's for another thread tho.

All I can say is that I'm glad of now being married and living in MQ - my experience of DHE has been generally positive and I'm now never without hot water!

On subject of MQs - anyone else baffled why MQs seem to attract a plague of 'daddy long-legs' in September?

[SirSaltyHelmet]

It is one of the considerations at the moment - but as I didn't live in the mess in the first place and I am rarely about I don't know an awful lot of people there yet and where I work they are mainly married or bean stealers...

Top and tail with me at a small base off the M40 :PDT_Xtremez_16:

[DoesMyBumLookBigInThis?]

Top and tail with me at a small base off the M40 :PDT_Xtremez_16:
You are sooo kind....

By the way - do I know you??????:PDT_Xtremez_27:

[Bluntend]

Speaking of 'bad' messes, have there been any improvements to Deadloss Mess at Cranditz? Last time I stayed there you had to be up at 0500 just to get hot water for a shower. Aside from woefully inadequate hot water supply, the fact that they built the public rooms too close to chom forcing them to put both the east and west wings on the same side and that one of the 'quadrants' (or whatever they were called) was slowly subsiding off towards Lincoln, it wasn't too bad a place to stay short term. I wouldn't want to spend a long time there though.

[SirSaltyHelmet]

Nope.... just a generous and chatty kind of guy :PDT_Xtremez_15:

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

Speaking of 'bad' messes, have there been any improvements to Deadloss Mess at Cranditz? Last time I stayed there you had to be up at 0500 just to get hot water for a shower. Aside from woefully inadequate hot water supply, the fact that they built the public rooms too close to chom forcing them to put both the east and west wings on the same side and that one of the 'quadrants' (or whatever they were called) was slowly subsiding off towards Lincoln, it wasn't too bad a place to stay short term. I wouldn't want to spend a long time there though.

The worst part of deadloss mess was the airport lounge that was called a bar - terrible, souless place. I understand many attempts have been made to improve it that mostly involved yukka and other potted plants

A great deal of progress could have been made, however, if they had simply taught the bar staff how to pull a decent pint of Everards Tiger and not kill it flat. :PDT_Xtremez_34:

[Me!]

Out, and willing to drive 2 hours every day for the luxury! Not that Chicksands is a bad mess, it's probably right up there as one of the nicest places to be (if you're a member of staff at the DCI, not a filthy stude), but I'm only there for 4 months so the commute is worth the satisfaction that I leave school every day.:PDT_Xtremez_07:

[M_for_Mother]

Daddy Long Legs? At a small FJ base in Lincolnshire, our problem is the damned Spiders. You only need to take a dump during the summer and they've sealed you into the cubicle with a fine mesh of cobwebs. And big? I saw one eat a dog once, I promise!

Our Mess corridor looks not unlike the set of an Indiana Jones movie some mornings. I wish Batty would stop wearing her Nazi costume.

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

I recall from my days living-in at Brize that the Batties were even more noisy than a VC10 on FTOT on a freezing cold day.

I worked shifts - despite the "sleeping off nights" sign I never got a full days sleep due to the row.

The particular problem is that Brize Mess, unlike most others, doesn't have skeleton keys that the Batties use to enter rooms, the Batties have a huge gaolor's set of keys attached to their utility belts.::/:

Kept waking up thinking Santa Claus had come early on his sleigh!!

[Bluntend]

At a small FJ base in Lincolnshire, our problem is the damned Spiders.

In Norfolk its midges and mossies that are the worst. Go to bed at night with a window open and you'll wake up in the morning a stone lighter through blood loss alone...

[M_for_Mother]

And Thunderflies, right? I think every Mess in the RAF must suffer from those little critters. I'll never understand where they come from or how they can get behind picture frames like they do just before they expire, leaving you with a standing reminder that they existed. Their life expectancy has got to be measured in hours, surely? I think that they are, in fact, the most pointless creature known to man (new thread topic perhaps?). They always ruin your pint as well - sat out in the Beer Garden, suddenly you feel something move on your face, look down and a fcuking colony of the suckers has descended into your Spitfire, most curious.

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

Our MQ in Cartoontown suffered from a plague of wasps.

Due to the Bats you see...

[M_for_Mother]

Fruit or Vampire? ;)

[Bluntend]

And Thunderflies, right? I think every Mess in the RAF must suffer from those little critters. I'll never understand where they come from or how they can get behind picture frames like they do just before they expire, leaving you with a standing reminder that they existed. Their life expectancy has got to be measured in hours, surely? I think that they are, in fact, the most pointless creature known to man (new thread topic perhaps?).

I think they thrive in the very fabric of the Mess as a kind of cavity wall insulation. When you hammer a nail into a wall to hang a picture it lets the critters out - hence why we're not allowed to put nails into walls. They probably also escape through the numerous cracks you'll find in any Mess older than around 18 months...

:PDT_Xtremez_31:

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

sat out in the Beer Garden, suddenly you feel something move on your face, look down and a fcuking colony of the suckers has descended into your Spitfire, most curious.

Fascinating - so they had beer gardens next to the kites on the dispersal in 1940 then? Must be frustrating to jump into the cockpit when scrambled only to find it full of flys.... :PDT_Xtremez_15:

Cheap shot. Sorry.

I used to be a Norfolk base too, the biggest problem with the flys was that they coated the front end of your car every summer. Their entrails were made of araldyte or something, cos you could never shift it!

[M_for_Mother]

On the topic of animals in the Mess, last year one of the lads in SLAM accommodation lost a snake down the toilet. Pretty careless I know, but he thought it was brown-bread so let matters lie, until someone else found a 2.5 ft long snake skin in their room and alerted the SWO.

Then it kicked off big style, EHT got called, people started covering the sh!tters with clingfilm (no change there then!). Eventually they recovered the absent Python when he was found dozing in somebody's kitbag.

Can you imagine the look on Harry Staish's face if that thing had surfaced during his morning routine? The thought alone keeps me smiling during my darkest hours.

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

That would really freak me out! Spiders I don't mind but snakes?:PDT_Xtremez_03:

[thickmick]

At least a house has proper walls, I have lost count of the number of times I drift off to sleep whilst the occupant of the room next door indulges in a very loud, very protracted sh@gging session just feet from my head!!!


MFM,

Do you know something I don't?

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

Just re-reading this thread and now I actually own a former quarter, I've started to try and hammer and screw things into the walls.

Trust me, the walls of a MQ made in the 50s are very solid. Got thro' 3 expensive and supposedly toughened drill bits whilst putting up curtain rails. Picture hooks don't stand a chance.

*prepares for tirade of abuse - probably from Plumber - about poor DIY skills*

[Bluntend]

You did use masonry drill bits didn't you?

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

You did use masonry drill bits didn't you?

..good grief... yes! my Dad is quite good at the DIY thing you know :PDT_Xtremez_15:

[Bluntend]

Perhaps you should have got your Dad to put up the curtain rail instead...:PDT_Xtremez_15:

[TheHogwartsBEngO]

:PDT_Xtremez_39: I did help him, no-one else could have handed him the tools and steadied the ladder for him...