So the news has been announced and our esteemed government have put the actual info up:
University students will be able to travel home to spend Christmas with their families once the national restrictions end on 2 December, following steps set out in new Government guidance published today.
In order to travel home safely, students in England will be required to follow the current national restrictions in place until 2 December, completing this four-week period in their term-time accommodation.
From 3 December to 9 December, which will be known as the ‘student travel window’, students will be allowed to travel home on staggered departure dates set by universities, who will work with other institutions in the region to manage pressure on transport infrastructure.The student travel window will mean students can travel having just completed the four-week period of national restrictions, reducing the risk of transmission to family and friends at home.
www.gov.uk/government/news/christmasguidance-set-out-for-university-students
Interesting. I can see this as being well-conceived in following immediately on from our supposed lockdown so presumably the safest time to return since they went back but I can't help thinking that it's all going to go tits-up...my eldest is at Loughborough, has had a great first term - following the rules, enjoying the independence of budgeting, shopping and cooking for herself, getting to know and living with her small household, balancing her studying, gym and leisure time and even being totally unperturbed by the two occasions they've had to isolate as a household while awaiting test results for others in the house who had T&T notifications. She's felt supported and safe all the while there and hadn't been intending to come back early as she felt she could work more effectively there without me distracting her by wanting to do stuff together... As yet I've not spoken to her (just up after a night shift) so it'll be interesting to hear what she says to this news.
The way I see this, as long as she doesn't go out on the piss the moment lockdown lite ends and doesn't come home on public transport, avoids meeting up closely with all her friends returning from the other universities and doesn't party beforehand we have the real possibility of enjoying a realistically safe Christmas Dinner with her grandparents. Good stuff indeed.
I wonder what's going to follow though...when or will they return? Will we see another outbreak or quarantining in the universities like in September? Will that 3 week period see more people getting hospitalised from Christmas onwards? (All rhetorical). Is it even worth it? For Christmas? As much as we love to get together as a family and eat a meal together when we can, there's something extra about the meal that day. It's probably the only time we eat turkey and mum makes it the best, her grandparents aren't getting younger and its something the whole nation mentally focuses on...and having previously written it off for this year it is starting to seem possible and I'm happy I'll be seeing her again soon (I've purposely not visited since dropping her off at the start of term).
Just read this back and I'm rambling, apologies, it's bed-head after a long week of nights but I'd like to read other's thoughts on this
Might take her to the Range when she gets home, even though we don't have to 