Students are a disgrace, and several other things I'd like to clean up.

The South Wales Evening Post recently received this letter, from our very own Disgruntled, Swansea.

"MY wife and I frequently go through Swansea University campus, either to visit the Taliesin or by bus on our way to and from town.
Six months ago the large lawn in front of Fulton House had to be re-turfed after marquees had been sited there, turning it into a ploughed field.
 Re-laying the lawn must have cost the university thousands of pounds.
The university attracts young people from all over the world.
What, I wonder, do these foreign visitors think of our propensity to throw litter everywhere?
During the recent very hot weather the lawn has been a disgrace, on occasions it has been ankle deep in litter with students lying among the debris.
Also, litter is strewn all around the campus again costing the university thousands of pounds to clear.
Other people have expressed their disgust at the mess created by students, especially as there are plenty of litter bins everywhere.
These students are the future of our country.
Why do they show such contempt for their university campus and for the environment in general?
It does not bode well for the future.
Surely the university could take disciplinary action against some of these litter louts?
There are plenty of CCTV cameras everywhere. If a few of them were suspended or fined the others might not be so lax in their habits.
M R Stroud"

(Taken from: http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Students-disgrace/story-15677430-detail/story.html)

 Oh, I do love a good angry member of the community story!

Firstly, why is Mr Stroud quite so upset that we had to re-turf the front lawn after the freshers' marquee was taken down? Would he rather that the university left it as a swamp? I know that the budget for science related subjects is the only one to be saved, but giving them their own swamp to use for research purposes seems a little over the top. Anyway, there's enough pond life to analyse in Swansea.

Also, I think Mr Stroud is a little confused as to how much some new turf actually costs. Doing my own research - because I'm a proper grown up these days, I can use Google!* - I've found that actually, it wouldn't cost anything like as much as Mr Stroud proposes. Oh no, at Homebase you can get 60 square metres of 'Classic Fresh Turf' for a very reasonable £225! And Nectar card points too! Now I know that there would have to be labour costs for ripping up the old turf, disposing of it, and making sure the new stuff doesn't just disintegrate, but this is what social science students are for - we've nothing to do. I have six contact hours a week and a high score on Mario Kart Wii. Are you understanding me? I've got time to kill.

Speaking of the front lawn, I can't be the only one with mental images of students making rubbish angels, in amongst the 'ankle deep' litter? Quite a lot of things are ankle deep, Mr Stroud, unless you have ridiculous proportions. Yes, the fact that people can't be bothered to take home their litter is incredibly annoying, but I do wish people wouldn't embellish unnecessarily. It was hardly the aftermath of Reading festival out there.

As for the rest of campus - where are all of these rubbish bins and CCTV cameras? I would argue that there aren't enough bins on campus, and the ones in front of Fulton are regularly filled to the brim. Perhaps a few more wouldn't hurt.

Leaving your cider can behind does not mean that the future of the country is at threat, Mr Stroud. I'd argue that it's our binge drinking culture and lack of employment opportunities for when we graduate.

On a more serious note (yes, I have these occasionally), I'd like to remind us all that it is our responsibility to keep things clean and tidy, not just on campus, but on our streets. Walking home amongst discarded bin bags because you can't remember what colour bin bag week it is, is disgusting. If you get it wrong, take it back in, don't leave it in the street to distribute bin juice all over the pavement. As much as I appreciate the teams of students who go out and clean up our streets for us, they shouldn't have to be doing it in the first place, you lazy sods.

Other things I'd like to clean up:
Swansea University, I love you. I really do. But oh gosh do we suck this year. How many times have we been in the national press this academic year?

• Posters on how to use toilets: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-16983788
• Bitey exam lady: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-16521157
• Racist Tweeter gets his comeuppance: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17515992

Incredible, guys. Just incredible. Would it kill some of you to save some kittens from trees or something?

And now, to cheer us up, here's a miniature turtle booping a grape with his miniature turtle nose:

*Seriously guys, have you heard of Google? It's INCREDIBLE. You can find stuff out FOR YOURSELF, meaning you don't have to go and post a stupid status on Facebook asking ridiculous questions! Just put the question that you were going to waste said status on into the Google search bar and boom! Answers!