I think the current generation of late teens/early 20s has lost any understanding of respect and are too self-centred.

I’m sure I’ve hinted at this before; but this morning it was highlighted to me, and it got me thinking.

The case in point is that of my housemates.

When the mousemates moved into my house the deal was that they would cook and do the garden.  To date living at my house has effectively saved them $2,000; it has cost me money in increased electricity bills (they have the tv on all day, fail to turn off lights for days on end and are fond of running the airconditioner with the doors open), damage to property (cigarette burns in a couch, stains on another couch, damage to a water pump and jobs that have only been done by half and will require me to spend money to fix or complete the job).  To date they have not paid me any of the money they owe me for their fridge or washing machine (excluding the first payment shortly after purchasing the whitegoods) at the start of last year.  Additionally I have had to help them with moving stuff and collecting a drowned car from by a creek.  When the housemates decided to get a dog they asked about getting a specific dog that was small, I agreed to this but they did not end up getting that dog; instead they got Leylah, a border collie and as such a much larger dog.  I’m sure there are other things, but they obviously aren’t important enough to remember.

As I mentioned in a previous post my car window has also been left open, the first time resulted in oen housemate being banned from the car for a short period of time, the second occasion resulted in a more permanent ban.  These bans would have been avoided if said housemate has apologised for leaving the window open or had asked if any damage had been caused.  No damage was caused, but the lack of concern for my property is what annoys me.

Last night the issue was raised when the housemate who is banned from the car asked for a lift into town.  I told her I would not take her into town and that I was going to take my motorbike, I also reminded her that she was banned from the car.  Her response was “that’s just stupid”; I disagree, what is stupid is her lack of ability to think and her lack of respect and concern for other people and their property.

This morning when I got up this housemate was ready to go into town and asked for a lift again, once again I told said housemate that I was taking the bike, the ute costs a lot more to run and that there was a ban on the use for the car.  My housemate then tried offering to put $20 of fuel in the ute (it costs around $20 in fuel for the return trip, plus wear and tear on the car bringing the total cost of the trip to around $40), once again I reminded my housemate that they were banned from the car.  At this point my hosuemate started crying because “I can’t deal with spending another day in the house”.  A comment was made “well we’ll just have to move out then” as my housemate stormed off.  As if moving out is a threat to me; if they move out I’ll have to do the garden myself (it will most likely get done quicker without them anyway) and I will have to cook for myself; in return is will save several hundred dollars every quarter in power, I will have less stress about what they have done wrong or broken, I wont have to put up with a large dog running around the house and making a mess and I will have a house that once cleaned will stay clean for a long period of time.

If these housemates showed some respect, cleaned up after themselves, had some pride in the residence in which they live and stopped expecting everyone to do what they want, then their life would be a lot easier and people might be willing to help them.  If they do move out I am tempted to tell them the washing machine and fridge both stay as they have not been paid for; perhaps that will help teach them to pay their debts and to treat peoples property with respect.

Until the rain came this weekend I’ve had a fairly productive weekend.

During the week Nathan attempted to convert his car into a submarine; unfortunately this attempt failed at the second creek crossing, the car stalled and filled with water.  This resulted in a good portion of the weekend being utilised to try and get his car functional again.

On Friday night we went to collect the car and had to remove the spark plugs to get the water out of the engine.  This went well until the battery died, so we had to borrow some jumper leads off the people in a nearby house.  Eventually we got the water out and started the car.  The 30km drive home was uneventful but the car was running rough because of the water in the fuel tank.  We put the car in the garage and Nathan started removing the interior.

On Saturday Ren and I went into town, looked through the Tender Centre (where once again I placed way too many tenders) and did some shopping.  Included in the shopping were things such as chassis stands, oil drip trays and an oil change kit for fixing Nathan’s car; we also got about 9 Sodastream flavours.

Saturday afternoon was spent doing a few bits to Nathan’s car and generally taking it easy.

Today (Sunday) we got off to a late start, but we’re removed a large amount of wire mesh from the garden, broken a heap more concrete so it is ready for removal and removed most of the grapevine and associated wires.

The plan is for Nathan to work on his car next weekend when my Dad is here; my Dad has a reasonable amount of mechanical knowledge, so things that Nathan and I don’t know about my Dad can help with.  I’ll try and finish off the jackhammering and removal of the concrete and Ren will potter around the garden or similar.  I’m also hoping to get some more work done on the ensuite during the week so it is ready for the electrician to come and do all the wiring.

Overall I think we’re relatively on track to have things completed by the time they need to be done.  The backyard should be ready for when the waste-water system is installed; the ensuite should be ready for the electrician and then will have more work done to be ready for us to run the waste-water pipes prior to the installation of the waste-water system; assuming finances allow for it I should be able to get the rainwater collection tanks in place and connected just after the new tank arrives and I should be able to finish off my walk-through robes before my Mum gets here mid-year so she can see what I’m doing with the place.