Another path- the first year ......

[chopc]

Apologies if I didn't tag anyone. Hopefully have inckueded all current posters

Chopc - Durham-History
@jano69 -Durham -History
@OnTheBenchOfDoom -Durham - Computer science
@Majaso12 -Imperial - Biochemistry
@bendmeoverbackwards -Bristol- History
@Pumpkintopf -Imperial -Physics
@ChimneyPot -Brown (US) - Open
@Stillcrikey -Bristol -MML
@Tenpastseven - Bristol -modern languages
@Longtimenewsee - Durham - Chemistry
@MidLifeCrisis007 - Durham -History
@BigWoollyJumpers - Exeter- History
@SeasonFinale -Bristol- History
@Notagardener LSE
@Revengeofthepangolins UCL - History
@raspberryrippleicecream ? -Maths
@derekthe1adyhamster Birmingham- Computer Science
@Vargas -Durham -Geography
@AvocadoPlant Exeter -History

Links to previous thread

Another path ....... the journey begins www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4353689-another-path-the-journey-begins

Lovely. Thanks chopc 😊

Thanks for the new thread @chopc just catching up with the end of the last one. Gosh so many parents taken before their time, incredibly sad. Hugs to you all.

Apologies for a little 'interlope', but on the subject of heating bills, although
you can't go into other people's empty rooms and turn their radiators down or off so you could have one person heating the entire house whilst they are doing online lectures whilst everyone else is out

• individuals who are concerned about this can turn their own radiator (and any in shared areas of the house, if the 'culprits' usually stay in their own rooms) down to the 'frost' setting on leaving the house in the morning? 'Every little helps', as a certain supermarket ad was / is wont to tell us.

Thanks chopc, checking in.

Checking in.

@bendmeoverbackwards

Thanks for the new thread *@chopc* just catching up with the end of the last one. Gosh so many parents taken before their time, incredibly sad. Hugs to you all.

Just caught up too. So many sad stories. My Dad died at 68, when I was only 23, and just married. Not terribly young, but still.

@jano69 - Thanks for your hugs. Hugs back to you too.

Funny week for us too, looking back to the Oxford results, DM and Step Dad dying on 14th and 15th Jan, and now DD going back to Uni tomorrow. Such a lot has happened in a year. It still seems slightly surreal because although all that happened, not much else did!!

For DD it has been generally good (apart from the driving), everything else has gone pretty well. Boyfriend still going strong, they have now been together over a year, and she had a nice time away for a week with him and his parents in Cornwall. Weather was awful, so they were stuck in most of the time, and she still survived .

It will certainly be very quiet from next week onwards. Even DH is planning a day a week in the office. Whatever shall I do in the house all alone? I think gardening beckons, with hopes for more Spring like weather.

Hope you got through the anniversary OK BWJ.
Nice to hear your update

I still have two kids left at home as DS was my eldest. Year 11 DS won't take any input from us but seems to be doing OK. But we will have to force ourselves on year 9 DD as she is the least studious of the three. However won't even take our encouragement to pursue more creative and practical subjects for GCSE as too lazy 🙈

Nice to hear from you @BigWoollyJumpers thinking of you and sending hugs. I remember your awful time last year.

Reading all this here reminded me of DC writing her personal statement on the way to her grandad's funeral.
But all seems to have fallen into place fairly well.

Thanks chopc and hello everyone. So sorry to hear sad news.

I haven't heard much from ds since he went back to Durham, other than that he has a lot more work so far this term. Not surprising really since he seemed to do practically nothing last term! Might be time to tone down the partying...

Checking in. Thanks for the new thread.

Sorry to hear of all the loved ones we’ve lost too soon. My own dad died when I was 14 and my mum 10 years ago. She would have been so very proud of ds (her number six grandchild and youngest by a massive stretch). I’m the youngest of five and two siblings in the middle don’t have children.

Anyway, we are taking ds back to Bristol early doors tomorrow. We are going out in just over an hour and has he even started packing? Has he buggery. 🤷‍♀️ I am biting my tongue and just cracking on with work.

I’ll really miss him when he’s gone but in some ways be good to get him back to his new life. We will probably go down for a weekend in March. He’s also going to Cardiff with dh (well, they’ll meet there) for one of the six nations matches mid-Feb so that’ll be nice for them.

Happy weekend all.

@Stillcrikey - DD goes back tomorrow by train. She told us yesterday that the suitcase she came down with is actually broken, one of the wheels wasn't running and eventually came off......

All I can say is thank goodness for John Lewis. Ordered yesterday afternoon, picked up this morning from local Little Waitrose. Got to love JL! Mind you, should have gone for the bigger one as her new dressing gown is proving a challenge to wedge in. It is very big and fluffy.

@Vargas

Thanks chopc and hello everyone. So sorry to hear sad news.

I haven't heard much from ds since he went back to Durham, other than that he has a lot more work so far this term. Not surprising really since he seemed to do practically nothing last term! Might be time to tone down the partying...

Well I don't know if it's a bug or the Van Mildert food, but my DS has a really upset stomach today and is feeling very sorry for himself....

I hope mini Vegas can cheer him up a bit! I hear a couple of the other VM lads have delivered him some electrolyte rich drinks.

Mini Vargas not Vegas!

Dd spent a week in Bristol for exams and is now on her way home for my birthday! So it looks like everyone else's dc are going back and mine is coming home! When does term start? Bristol doesn't start till 24th January and next week is a bit dead so dd is happy to be home for that week.

Dd is upset that she has lost her keys to her room in halls. She realised this when she went back last week. She kept them in her coat pocket while she was home (unzipped!) so probably have fallen out somewhere. She should have kept them in a drawer at home really. But she's annoyed with herself so no point in telling her that. £80 for a new set!

@MidLifeCrisis007 sorry to hear about your ds, I wish him better soon.

Hi everyone and thank you to @chopc for the new thread.
It’s so sad to read of so many losses, I think we learn to manage the grief, but the pain stays.
We lost my dad in the summer, and it would’ve been his birthday last week. He was a big character who adored his family. But we were lucky to have him for so long, and it really has encouraged us to make the best of each day.
Talking of which, DD had an unexpected opportunity to join a friend on a mini break to Italy next week. She was all set to go, when we realised her passport expires in a couple of months so it’s not valid. Such a shame!
Usually we would’ve been on to this but because of covid we haven’t been abroad since 2019.

Sorry for your loss @AvocadoPlant and hard luck about the Italian trip

@MidLifeCrisis007 hope your DS feels better soon!

Lucky Bristol folks having the extra time with dc at home (in some cases!) How does it work bend - they go back for exams but term starts later?

Stillcrikey sounds like my DS 🙄😁

BWJ sounds just the thing for this weather- it's freezing here! And now foggy. Managed a dog walk earlier and was actually warm in the winter sunshine though so there is hope.

Midlife hope DS feels better - how lovely that he has a fellow Mumsnet offspring to cheer him up!

Avocado sorry for the loss of your dad.

@AvocadoPlant you can get a passport quickly if you’re prepared to pay and can go and collect it. We did this for dd1 a while ago.

Checking in on this new thread, thank you @chopc

So many sad stories of loss at the end of the last thread.

DD decided to finish her essays and take an online exam from home this week so it has been lovely to have some extra time with her. We are taking her back to Exeter tomorrow. She brought way too much home at the end of term. My fault really as she was very poorly and we dashed down to Exeter to pick her and I said 'pack your things up'. As she was unwell she took me a my word and crammed loads in her case.

At Bristol there are exams this week and next. It will depend on which modules/courses you take so some have exams next week too. Then second semester starts 24 January.

Thank you for the new thread @chopc.

@AvocadoPlant "I think we learn to manage the grief, but the pain stays" I think that is a great way to look at it and very true.

Weird to think about everything everyone went through last year with the whole UCAS application etc and the deaths of so many loved ones. It feels so much longer than a year ago. In my timeline photos on my phone it showed that it had snowed this time last year.

@Pumpkintopf I may be wrong as a lot has changed with council tax over the years (second home discount charge increase being the biggest and most controversial one of them) there are lots of property exemptions for all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons and then people exemptions ie students. Council tax is 50% property and 50% people based on 2 adults. Back in the day when I worked in Ctax unoccupied unfurnished was exempt but furnished was chargeable. So landlords ran full year tenancies. I lived in a student town.

@MidLifeCrisis007 good that he has friends to rally round.

@BigWoollyJumpers hope you have managed to have some good memories of your DM and Step Dad to counter the sadness.

And finally to @bendmeoverbackwards Happy Birthday, have a lovely weekend.

@Pumpkintopf... there are 3 mumsnet DC on the same corridor! And I think there are only about 16 on the corridor!

I don't know whether Vargas' DS knows that we converse on mums net. But the other mumsnet offspring is in the room opposite my DS by total coincidence and I'm in regular contact with her mum on WhatsApp! Her DD kindly sewed hoops on DS's towels in the first week as his towels kept falling off their hooks!