Cheap thrills in York
As freshers will soon find out, the student loan will only stretch so far. Nouse sent three students off into to York to see what excitement they could find with only £10 in their pocket
Horror and History
The city of York has more history than even the most culture hungry student can handle, but there are a few activities which will expand your knowledge of ‘ye olde times’ without leaving you in a boredom induced coma. Armed with only my umbrella to fend off those from the ‘dark side’ I left for the haunted streets of York with the soul intention of scaring myself silly whilst learning something about my surroundings. Lured in by the wails and screams of those who met their unpleasant end in this very city, my first port of call had to be the York Dungeons. With money-off vouchers from the tourist information centre, tickets can cost as little as £5.
The experience promised to “bring more than 2,000 years of gruesomely authentic history vividly back to life”. This is done with the aid of exhibits of the unfortunate ones, sporadic noises of pain and costumed actors who seem to enjoy being evil a bit too much, as I found out.
I hesitantly entered the dimly lit passageways to the first themed “catacomb”, which featured plague victims and exciting coughing noises. Plaques on the walls provided information on those inflicted by the plague in York and one told the story of a 13 year old girl who, when suspected of having the disease, was bricked into a room by her father and left to die…a bit harsh I felt. Perhaps one of the scariest moments of my visit was when I was given a servere telling-off by the “Plague Doctor” for entering the mock surgery when I should have waited for our group to be called in and entertained by tales of leeches (of which there were real ones) and more death.
Face-painted characters and models telling of Robin Hood’s vampire tendencies, Roman legion ghosts in the Treasurer’s House and medieval torture methods continued the stories of terror. After watching a re-enactment of Guy Fawkes’ adventures and the hanging of highwayman Dick Turpin (the model twitching disturbingly whilst he ‘died’), I left feeling slightly sick but confident that I would be able to sleep soundly.
Having not fulfilled the aim of my day out, I joined a group of thrill-seeking tourists at the Shambles on the award winning Ghost Hunt of York. Dressed in clothes that would be suitable for an undertaker, our guide took us round the cobbled Victorian back streets, stopping to engage in stories of the untimely demises of York’s past residents and sightings of their ghosts.
Seeming more of a comedy performer, I was suspicious that the tales we were being told were merely the invention of our exuberant entertainer. However, when he led us to the small window of the girl who was left to die of the plague and the haunted Treasurers House, stories which I’d learnt of earlier in the day, I began to feel a slight chill.
The walk involved audience participation, which I am always afraid of, and I, amongst others was called up to aid the guide in his attempt to raise the spirits in ways that prompted a cheap, an often over enthusiastic, American laugh from the crowd. After making a mental note of which areas to avoid when I was alone in York, my day of historic horror was over, and I had a feeling I wouldn’t forget it.
Jo-ann Hodgson
Unelegantly Wasted
With over 350 pubs in York, any student would be hard pressed to sample the alcoholic delights of each establishment. Also, as your parents will tell you, not all of your student loan should be spent on alcohol. There is one district in York, however, where you can stumble into several bars, get undeniably wasted on a budget and still have enough shrapnel left for something greasy in one of the many late night takeaways.
There isn’t a red light district in York, but if there were it would be Mickelgate. Out of control stag nights, work parties, and an undercurrent of sex and sleaze.
First, I took a pint in The Priory. This will cost you £1. It’s not a clinic for people to rehabilitate in, but a pub for people in need of rehabilitation!
Next was Reflex, The 80s Bar that will satisfy the needs of any cheesy music loving student. If you really want to get into the groove of the era, you can purchase a number of wigs and spangly glasses to wear on the revolving dance floor. Drinks in here arealso dangerously cheap and often nasty. But who cares about the taste?!
I then fell into The Lowther, which was, as always, crowded and sweaty..
Stumbling up Mickelgate I came across to The Nag’s Head. This amazing chrome-filled drinking establishment offers trebles for singles and will get you well on your way. For a more indie experience, I then fell into The Lowther, which was, as always, crowded and sweaty.. After a a pint of Stella here for £1.50 I had progressed from tipsy to wrecked. I’d spent only £4.50 and felt it was likely that embarrasment would fall upon me tonight. Now, time to consider which nightclub to grace with my presense… The Gallery is the most classy but also the most expensive. Toffs and Ziggys are on the same level of cheesiness. However, Ziggy’s is free on a Wednesday (sounds an attractive offer, but if you ever go, you’ll understand why this is). Copycat alcopops cost about £1 in here and unfortunatley, I’m not a lady. If I was, I could find some idiot to buy me drinks all night and temporarily ignore all principles about sexual equality and women’s liberty.
However, any worries you may have about your beer belly can be forgotten - after half an hour dancing in the tiny, cramped club you will have lost at least five pounds in sweat.
After using the pittance I had left to buy something with ‘grease’ as its principal ingredient, I had just enough left for a taxi to dump me home to my bed.
The best aspect of the Micklegate run (as it’s likely you will have no recolection of the night before in the morning) is that a return trip won’t leave you having to ring up your loving parents for more money.
Alex Jones
Cruising on the Ouse
Starting university is the first time in your life when you begin to gain a measure of independence, and what better way to celebrate this responsibility than by risking life and limb in command of your own vessel on the high seas of… er… the Ouse?
Feeling nautical, I set off into York to spend a day messing about on the river.The Red Boat self-hire boats are located just a hop, skip and jump outside of town along the riverbank. There are several boating outings that start along the river but the great thing about the Red Boats is that they’re HAPPY to let you drive. The others are tourist cruise boats where they’ll probably arrest you for trying to take the wheel. The cost of hiring a boat is £20 for 30 minutes and £30 for an hour, so to get some mateys together and it’ll cost you only a few gold coins each.
If you time your outing right, you’ll be able to cruise past the many riverfront bars and shout salty phrases at the drunkards.
One of the main advantages in going with more people is that you’ll have some spare cash to purchase the other essentials for maritime fun - namely, a pirate dressing-up kit. I bought mine from the Festival Of Fun fancy dress shop in the Shambles and the joy of being able to don, among other things, an eyepatch and a rather unconvincing moustache is well worth the price of £4.
Before boarding it’s wise to read up on your sea shanties because I know from personal experience that it can be rather damaging to your pirate authenticity when, mid jolly sing-song, you realise that you don’t actually know what to do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning…
If you time your outing right, you’ll be able to cruise past the many riverfront bars and shout salty phrases at the drunkards. Time it wrong like we did, however, and they’ll all be sober and some of them will probably recognise you.
As far as other pirate activities go, due to the diminutive size and snail-like pace of the hire boats the only other sea-goers you’ll be able to menace are the geese, and even then it’s sometimes a bitter battle.
The boat was simple enough to drive with a straightforward gear stick and a horn (that, sadly, we only noticed just as we were about to return to the hire place).
After working up an appetite we returned to dry land and entered the land populated by small children, loved-up couples and skating Avril Lavinge clones. This magical place is the riverside Millenium Park and proved a idyllic location for our picnic with it’s lakes and greenery. Note, however, that the park is locked in the late afternoon by a warden and it is wise to leave before this point to avoid a night spent with the geese.
