Weetabix and Beans

Having assessed the food situation, this was what was left.

Assorted carbohydrates e.g. rice, pasta etc
Approx. 5 slices of bread (including the crusts)
1 tin of tuna
1 tin of sweetcorn
1 bowl of leftover baked beans
Squeezy mayonnaise
Milk
Weetabix
Cup-a-Soups
Hot chocolate and teabags
Toast toppings, e.g. jam, marmite, honey, butter
1 green pepper
Several cereal bars
Box of jelly beans left over from Christmas
5 Activia yoghurts
Small misshapen block of cheese.

Sadly, unless my dear, darling parents gift me with a loan, I have a mere £200 to last me until April 26th, only £60 of which is actually in my account due to financial stupidities on behalf of Odeon Kingston-upon-Thames. Therefore technically, this food needs to last me four weeks until I go home for Easter (and please bear in mind that I had the cheese and baked beans for dinner). Luckily I am going home for the weekend in a couple of days, so I must consume many, many calories courtesy of mum and dad (pub Sunday lunch is a must) and retain them until the time comes for somebody else to buy me dinner... All I can say is, at least this is doing something for the losing-the-stomach-podge cause.

Was this the idea of graduates that Labour had when Tony Blair so eloquently ranted about "education, education, education"? Did they realise, when they brought in top-up fees, that students woud be so skint they'd be having a dinner of scrambled egg, spaghetti and processed salami, as Doodle did this evening? Did they realise that when I leave university in June 2010 with a 2:1 (here's to hoping) degree in English Lit with Dance I would be nearly £30,000 in debt and being rejected for jobs I was capable of doing when I was 18? (This last one hasn't happened yet but it's only a matter of time.) Also I am not quite a graduate yet, but you know. Nearly. I just don't understand the point of paying this much for a degree that doesn't actually help you get a job. Having said that, I have thoroughly enjoyed my years of study, possibly because the social side of things outweighs the studying slightly, and wouldn't have it any other way.

I don't really know what the answer is. And in the run up to the general election, I actually don't think the major parties do either. Nick Clegg's got it spot-on in terms of abolishing fees - avoiding the kind of debt I've run up just from tuition fees and maintenance loands - but what actual good will that do in the long run? I don't think anyone really knows. Although I know one thing for sure - the job market will never get better whilst the banks use the money they've been bailed out with to give themselves Christmas fucking bonuses. So much of that money coud be going on graduate training schemes. And, in the slightly longer run, allowing me to eat something other than weetabix and beans for dinner.