It’s pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain, but let me just clarify that living in poverty is the worst.

Well, technically speaking, I really shouldn’t say that. I don’t really “live in poverty” I live in Melbourne, Australia, where there are fantastic unemployment benefits and food / hospital care available for the seriously poor. And I’m not even really a poor person. I have a job, I’m not on unemployment benefits, and it’s not as if I live on the street. But I am a full-time student with three part time jobs who lives out of home which means I am broke and broke can be. Last week, I had spaghetti bolognese every meal for twelve days.

You can bet that if I don’t have enough money to buy myself some freaking two-minute noodles, I definitely don’t have enough to pay someone for my much needed roof repair. In Melbourne, it’s been pretty dry so far this year. Not too much rain over the summer (which is pretty typical of it here) even though it hasn’t been that hot. So I’ve had no real cause to notice the small but rather important hole in my roof. I mean, I’d gathered that my heating wasn’t working very well, but it’s only now that I realise why.

Thing is, even though having a roof that leaks is a nightmare, I just can’t find anyone who offers roof repair services in Melbourne for my price range. They just don’t exist, and neither does a traddie who’s happy to do work pro-bono. So I’m stuck saving up my loose change to go to Bunnings and buy a tarp or something myself. I know it’s going to be a terrible band-aid solution that will only last for about a month if I’m lucky, but what other choice do I have?