Constantly, by his side,
I just want to hold you,
I just want your eyes on me,
On me.

My conscience weeps,
As ego sleeps,
Her hands on his thigh,
Unattainable prize to me,
To me.

You’ve won and you don’t even know you have,
I’ve gone and you don’t even realise,
I’m moving away, Im moving away from this place
I can’t stand your face, you’re a fucking disgrace,
A fucking disgrace.
Leave me alone and I will wake you when they have gone.
Leave me alone and I will wake you when they have gone.
The race has run,
And she is gone,
Falling statues of old,
Falling statues of old,
They used to stand so tall,
Falling statues of old.

“I’ve been a porter for 17 years, and no one has asked me something like this before.” The porter at Trinity paused. “Multiple flower delivery. I don’t know what to say. My mind’s gone blank”.

This encounter was the end of a long morning, starting at 7.30am, as myself and a select few volunteers delivered hundreds and hundreds of flowers to porters lodges and pigeon holes across Cambridge. I thought that it would be an easy sell: around 20 or 30 flowers delivered to each college, for grads, fellows and students, all with a positive message attached. How wrong I was. Though a number of porters and staff were incredibly kind and helpful, offering water and glasses for the quickly fading flowers, the vast majority weren’t. And it was the final straw in a pattern that, I believe, is all too familiar in Cambridge.

The pattern, which I have seen again and again in every aspect of Cambridge life, is the hatred and immediate suspicion of innovation. As I entered each porter’s lodge, grasping 20 flowers, the faces of both students and porters immediately fell. The worst, a woman in Homerton, upon my description of the Beginning, Middle, End project (‘just a way to make people smile’), simply said: “that seems pointless, you can’t deliver them here.” After my pleas to be able to just leave them there for the day, on a table in the corner of the main building, she reluctantly agreed.

Sending a flower to someone isn’t a particularly revolutionary idea, but in a university town baron of any sort of innovation apart from the sort that occurs in libraries, the other volunteers and I were treated as if we were distributing dissent. Which is fine. But it is indicative of a wider issue. In a university full of the brightest and best minds, where is the exploration of ideas? Where are people trying different things out? Maybe the whole world is like that, but you’d hope that in such a safe and stimulating environment people would try new things. So please, please, please- try something new today. Even if it doesn’t work. Because it is better to try and fail than not try at all, despite what the porters in Homerton & St.Catz will try to make you believe. And if you can, rescue the hundreds of flowers dying in your porter’s lodges right now.

The Final stage of the Beginning, Middle, End project will be revealed on the 2^nd of November at beginningmiddleend.co.uk

 

 

He shut his eyes, and replaced the consequences of the night with dreams.

You need to remember to have fun while you’re young, I’m not saying don’t follow a dream or don’t try hard at what you do, but remember as cliche as it sounds, to make sure you keep your friends close and enjoy every moment of your life. Always make new memories and go outside, take a massive breath of fresh air and experience the world and find small things that make you smile. Share good times with people out in the sun or just being inside and having good chats and making memories, because nothing is certain and you can never tell what will happen not only in the distant future, but even tomorrow. By having dreams and trying hard to achieve those dreams you aren’t wasting time but will make yourself happier; don’t think about it like working towards something so much as doing things right now which you can enjoy, with the added benefit of it making something better in the future. Don’t think about anything as a chore, see the good in it and enjoy it, it’s important in life. And always keep in touch with old friends and keep in touch with family because they’re easy to overlook but so important. My thoughts right now are with Jonny’s family, who are amazing people, everyone who knew Jonny should be thankful to have had the pleasure of knowing such a solid, honest, real guy. I miss you man.

Words by Hunter