Coasting along nicely..

           Sitting in a stuffy small room dotted with a small selection of students on a crisp afternoon is when I first understood the hierarchy of life. Up until this point, here being the grand old age of 19, I had so far been parented through the “stages” if you will of the life of an average person. We all know the drill- your mum telling you to work hard (in some cases bribing you to work hard- nice tenner easily made on an A on a class test- cheers mum), your teachers, your employers, heck even by those keen kids, you know the type, quiet and reserved, usually in a corner wearing black. Even with all of these events I still didn’t get it. Maybe I should have worked harder, and then I would have been intelligent enough to know what everyone else already understood. I knew I had to get into secondary school (verbal reasoning.. who knew?!), attain the standard GCSEs, A-Levels, and Uni. Of course, I’d then hop right out of the finest University and bag myself a glamorous and well paid job with little effort. Naturally I’d then casually bump into Mr Charming in the lift in work, who would take one look at me, whisk me away on romantic trips and marry me. Such is the fairy tale of life.

             

           I don’t think however, that this is for me. I came to this realisation as I was saying, whilst sat in the dullest seminar, listening for once, to what my lecturer had to say. I’d like to point out at this point, that the lecturer in question looks almost 80% like Hugh Grant, but on a bad day, with glasses, but this was not however, why I was listening so intently. No. I was listening because he mentioned the word “coasters”. Now I know you’re sat there thinking, why on earth was she so intent on learning about a foam placemat; alas, I’m talking about the other type of coaster. The one that everyone knows in life. The guy in the office who rushes deadlines, scrapes it by the skin of his teeth, and just, miraculously succeeds. In this instance, the “coaster” was the university type. The students who don’t take their degrees seriously- guilty- the ones who are just there for the fun of the freedom (and debt)- again, very much guilty. Coincidentally, the ones who could probably make it, but for reasons unknown, just didn’t. The average-joes if you will.

Coast: Noun: The part of the land near the sea; the edge of the land.

Verb:(of a person or vehicle) Move easily without using power.

          And so you see, my problem. Surely, as lecturer Grant so expressively put, if a coaster can successfully graduate from a red-brick university, they can succeed in life. They can, extremely lazily and probably very slowly fulfil the goals that they hoped to achieve, or at least some of them. I admit, that coasting through life is not going to make anyone the best human in the world, but it, apparently, works. So, welcome to the life of the coaster.