Class of '18 nattering as they head in different directions.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Hope this works. On phone with dodgy signal.

We've got a month too kitten. It feels like ages, but it does mean DD has plenty of time to get stuff sorted and packed. She'll have to do all of it herself because I'm going to be busy as soon as I'm back at school, I always am.

I've still got one school returner, and will have for another 10 years. A big age gap is nice in some ways, but very frustrating in other ways. I'd quite like to have an empty nest a bit sooner than 10 years from now.

For those with plain white plates - did you know you can buy porcelain pens? You could just write your initials on the back or do an arty design on the front. They are supposed to be dishwasher proof after a brief spell in the oven. Mine is Pebeo (ebay) but no doubt others are available

DS now has a set of plates like no other and when he's broken these (they were a very cheap set, when I had them out of the box I wished I'd paid more) he can replace them but have them look part of the set. I bought myself a plain white china mug and decorated that one for me.

That's such a lovely idea Knitting.

Will you all stop showing off with your 'weeks to get ready'!!!

DD came back last night in a more receptive frame of mind. Today is the only day neither of are working before she goes. So we are going shopping later.

I've asked her to email halls to check the bed size. Apparently this is such a 'meme' and really embarrassing

Knitting
Good tip on the plates - thank you!
Ds thinks UK recycling system is overly complicated - here the Chinese staff will have a good search through your rubbish to determine what should be 'recycled' - ie taken home with them! It's great as whatever I want to get rid of, someone here will want it.
Ds thoroughly enjoying some Jersey potatoes and has declared all UK food to be delicious!

Apparently this is such a 'meme' and really embarrassing

😂

I might just start a firs to go competition. Dd starts on the 10th and we leave on the 5th as she has been allowed to come a few days early as we have quite a lot to sort out.

Shanghai quite jealous that your ds has managed to register with the university health centre already. We had to get the head of disability services to talk to the health centre before they would reluctantly allow her to register before the 10th.
As she has quite complicated medical conditions she wants me to go to the first appointment with her but I have to leave on the 9th to be back in time to get ds to his university.

Raspberry I made an attempt to shop locally but when faced with "out of stock for click and collect" I ended up having all the bedding delivered. Once you are resigned to that then you can shop at night from the comfort of the sofa.

I think DS will find that their kitchen is woefully unequipped, I haven't had a hand in planning that. They have a list that shows what they will all be bringing but they started with a blank sheet rather than writing down the essentials and splitting it up between them. I will leave DS with some cash and he can buy there what I would have bought here. Less packing and carrying for me - it's a win. It will give them something to do in the week before teaching starts.

My new coffee mug is cooling in the oven, if it survives a week of washing I'll do some more because I really like it. I would have just put a couple of wavy lines across the edge of the plates, a three inch pattern would have been enough. Minimalist, that's me. DS went for a more detailed circular design which he was regretting by the seventh item. The side plates were a related design involving a one inch line and three dots because he'd had enough by then.

Raspberry she might be able to find the bed size hidden away in the detail of "facilities" for the accommodation, I found a table comparing all the accommodation offered that showed which provided pillows/wastebins and the bed size.

Apparently DS just out of bed.
Having cancelled his gym membership, DH and I have joined the gym! (DD not impressed that she can't go - too young). His online registration is next week - and think the university gym publishes new prices from Saturday. He managed to print off arrivals pass yesterday with no nagging (and he had obviously been messing a bit on the online portals too). Definitely seems to do better when i'm not there!

DD is going abroad with her BF tomorrow. It will be the first time she's gone abroad without us, apart from a school trip. I'm very nervous because her anxiety is bad at the moment. She's anxious about the holiday and about the new job, even though she's also very excited about both.

chocolateworshipper hopefully she'll have a great time and come back more confident in her capabilities.

I hope she has a great time chocolate. DD has had two parent free holidays this year. One with 4 other girls immediately after the A levels and a long weekend in Paris with her boyfriend for her 18th birthday.

Hope she has a good time chocolate

Hopefully she will be too busy having a great time to get too anxious chocolate. Hope she has fun!

Thank you all for the reassurance x

Hope she has a great time chocolate. The first holiday without parents is a bit nerve wracking for everyone, and new job nerves are a whole other league. Once she's done them she'll hopefully have a load more confidence.

DD has a label maker (she gets a new piece of obscure stationery every Christmas so is very well equipped) so she is apparently going to label everything she takes with her. I wonder how long it will take til she gets bored.

She's been crossly messaging me today because I have thoughtlessly taken some vital camping equipment that she needs for her festival (chairs and airbed) with me on my camping trip. I don't know quite what she expected me to do about it, and I don't understand why she thinks I would go camping without taking our camping equipment, I am far too old to camp without an airbed!! I think she has managed to borrow some stuff from a friend.

dd is heading off camping this weekend with a friend. I don't think they had remembered cooking equipment until I asked what they planned to eat.

Evening all. Not posted for a while (combination of being away and head in sand) but decided to get organised today while still on leave. Braved ikea earlier with not one but four - yes, four - teenagers and feel fairly sorted re crockery, cutlery, towels etc

DS will be self catered at York. He is a reasonably good - and healthy - cook and enjoyed picking out pots and pans and spatulas etc. I'm just trying to get a starter pack of food basics/essentials ready for him including some easy things for freshers week (rice, noodles etc) when I suspect there will be too much fun stuff going on to think about shopping/cooking. It feels a bit like getting ready for a self-catering holiday! Does anyone have a "master list" of food essentials that they can share so I can see what else I might get? Thank you!

MsAwesome we have sleeping mats and chairs freshly returned from Leeds if she needs anything.

Chocolate I worried about DD and her friends in June on their first trip away and they were fine.

Well we have bags of stuff for uni and DD applied for bank account and did her Halls initiation. And we've booked her arrivals slot. Tried to remmeber, as Ms AD pointed out, she will have laptop and phone and can order stuff she needs

I've just put a bottle of Ribena on my online shopping list for when Freshers flu strikes or she is feeling miserable, hot Ribena is a confort drink here

Ugh been back at work 2 days and ready for another holiday already!
DD has finally had paperwork through from university so this evening has been spent reading and signing millions of contracts and filling in forms.

Thanks raspberry, she's sorted now, one of the friends she's going with has spares she can borrow.

Kitten I have no idea what DD is planning to eat when she gets there. I don't think she knows either. She does have the board games she's going to play and the talks she's going to go to all planned though, so priorities are sorted. I doubt she'll starve, but she may not have the healthiest diet while she's away.

I wish it was me going. Oh to be young again.

Part of me envies him (new beginnings, studying something you love) but the other part wouldn't want to go back to that stage for all the tea in China.

If I knew now what I didn't know then ......

I hope DS loves his time at university as much as I did. I too am a little envious - although I think maybe I'd possibly work a little harder and party a little less if I had my time again