Did you know?
The VOC has a fifth hut, located right on campus. The so-called “Clubroom” is a bit like Red Heather, in that you aren’t technically supposed to sleep there. Well, given the impending transit shutdown, the wonderful AMS decided to grant us limited overnight access to our “Clubroom” hut and I decided that it would be interesting try sleeping there.
I decided to head over to the clubroom a bit early, while Natalie and friends were painting. I intended to get some work done, but Temma had other plans for me (namely looking at maps). About an hour later, the artists decided to leave, and Temma apparently went off to fight a bear. I turned on some music and started to actually work. Having internet and outlets makes for a more productive hut trip than most.
At some point (though I wasn’t really paying attention to time), I realized that I needed to eat dinner. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to pack my food and my driver didn’t want to stop at the grocery store on the way in. Luckily, the “Clubroom” is located very close to several food sources, so I got myself some pizza.
The outhouse at the “Clubroom” is substantially larger than any of our other outhouses, but not necessarily any cleaner. I enjoyed the running water but it was missing some charm and views.
I set up my sleeping stuff on one of the couches and was happily surprised to realize that I didn’t even need a pad. Maybe we should try to put couches at our other huts. For the most part, sleeping was okay, despite the lights right outside which were never turned off. Someone came in to do hut maintenance at around 4 am, which is definitely not the best time for a workhike.
Overall, sleeping in the “Clubroom” was not a bad experience, but not one which I would pursue again. For an institution that likes to talk about sustainability, UBC really needs to learn how to turn off lights.
Some interesting hut beta