2nd year uni (starting 2018)

[HSMMaCM]

The old thread seems to have filled up!

[RedHelenB]

Dd1 has managed not to lose or damage her laptop in her first year. All non valuable stuff transferred to her house (bar her record player ) Her room is hused though, she'll freeze in winter!

[RedHelenB]

Huge I mean!

[Horsemad]

DS has cracked his laptop screen (think it got stood on ) and his phone screen is cracked & phone not working now at all...

[ErrolTheDragon]

DDs gadgets have survived apart from one cracked but replaceable phone screen, and during the first term managing to neglect pc updates/antivirus checking such that it got infected and DH spent quite a long time in the Xmas vac resetting and 'rebuilding' it for her.

[PilarTernera]

My dd was the same about the antivirus Errol but luckily I managed to intervene before anything bad happend. I think it's related to that teenage sense of invincibility, 'it won't happen to me'.

[bigTillyMint]

My DD was like that with her old laptop. Do MacBook need updating too?

[MountainPeakGeek]

bigTillyMint - Yes, definitely. There are regular security updates released for Macs too and it's important to keep the OS up to date.

There's less need for anti malware protection on a Mac than a PC, since the vast majority of malware targets Windows, but it's by no means invulnerable.

[Needmoresleep]

Yay. DD passed her driving test. Those circuits round Hyde Park Corner must have done some good. She is lucky her first placements are in Bristol, some of her peers got Yeovil, but the driving may well come in handy next time around.

She is enjoying flatmates who wash up, and a sense of normality and order. We are really hoping next year is easier than the chaos of last.

Something to watch for. Water companies seem to be under pressure to install meters. Poor 70s conversions like DDs very student flat are unlikely to have the pipework to support meters. (It turns out that there is only one stop cock for the whole building!) Leases often say stuff about not changing meters. When she tried to set up a new account DD got a letter saying all new accounts needed to be metered. She wrote saying that a) she needed landlord permission b) she doubted the property would be suitable. She also wrote to the LL. Neither replied. She then got a phone call announcing that a surveyor would be round, and no they could not deal with the letting agency as she was the account holder and that they were not interested in the fact that she did not have landlord permission to install a meter. She returned to the flat for the appointment to find another letter saying they were about to turn off her water, and that there would be a large fee to reconnect.

She will be fine. Once bits of the Water Board start communicating with each other they will realise their surveyor has confirmed she cant have a meter, and that if they cut the water off they deprive other customers of water. I assume that this has been driven by some national metering targets, so a lot of students opening accounts will have similar problems. It turned into a labyrinth of bureaucracy, so good training for a future career with the NHS, but time consuming. And ignoring it could mean large fines.

[HSMMaCM]

Deliveries of books keep arriving in the post for DD. She's going to have a lot of reading to do.

[ErrolTheDragon]

Well done to your DD, need!
Mine has been having her taste of annoying systems today organising internet for her house. She needed to ask BT one specific question and had to wade through lots of what sounded like attempted upselling.

[Needmoresleep]

Yes, the utilities have been a major mentoring/learning experience. I have been quite impressed at how DD coped, though there have been several calls asking for advice. I realise MN DC should turn 18 fully able to negotiate admin, but that is not true of mine. She is an awful lot better than she was. She tackled DSA by herself last year which was a real achievement. No help from me as I found it far too complicated. Perhaps it was designed to be a covert form of training for those with SEN, which is now starting to pay off. Her elder brother has just started studying in the US which makes what she faces pale into insignificance (you cant get utilities without a bank account and you cant get a bank account without an address and so on). It has also given her good experience of sorting things out on the phone. One odd realisation when she was applying for University is that teens can have very little experience of talking on phones. Perhaps we need to thank Wessex Water for developing her skills.

[LittleSpace]

Congratulations on driving test pass.

We are really lucky that dd's 2nd year house is owned by the university. Much simpler.

[Haffdonga]

Yes, congrats to Needmorsleep dd. Negotiating Hyde Park Corner is impressive even for the most experienced driver!

Talking of dealing with life admin, ds is currently on a holiday with mates which involved him booking 3 separate flights. Somehow the basic principle that you should book flights in the name on your passport not your nickname has completely passed ds by. He has managed to book all three flights in different names none of which corresponds to his actual name . (We're not talking complicated middle names here. Think your average Thomas Bloggs-King type name. He's Tom King on one ticket, Tommo King on a second and Tommy Kong (spelt wrongly) on the third. FFS!

Apparently it's my fault because I gave him too many names. I think it's my fault because I mistakenly assumed he had a modicum of basic common sense despite being supposedly intelligent.

[Horsemad]

Oh Haffdonga, that has made me LOL!!

[bigTillyMint]

Thanks Mountain - I will tell/check with DD!

Congrats to your DD, NMS. My DD is currently camping with her medic friend - is your DD back already?

Eeek Haff - I guess he managed to explain to passport control?!

[ErrolTheDragon]

It's a bit weird, some already going back and all the new lot excitedly shopping... mine won't be home for her 'summer holidays' till next (not this) weekend.

[Needmoresleep]

BTM, mine has had an odd summer. Medics finished really late and then she needed to be down there to catch up with missed placements and for some medical appointments plus for driving lessons/test. Which meant she had the joys of picking up keys, going through the inventory, and waiting in for wifi and water etc. We all went to a family wedding overseas and she has made trips to grandparents etc, but after a difficult first year I think she has enjoyed taking time to settle into her new flat. She is also lucky as she seems to have no problem picking up kitchen porter shifts in London when it suits her and without having to commit.

Sports preseason starts next week and medics start placements the week after. The end of the weird hot summer.

[HSMMaCM]

The passport names . Sorry. I know it's not funny, but

[BestIsWest]

We took DS back this morning. I wasn’t very impressed with his new accommodation - there’s mould in his room and it smelled very damp. And the sitting room furniture was manky. However he insists it will all be fine. They will visit Ikea and buy some throws and rugs apparently.

We took him food shopping and left him scrubbing the mould off.

Called in for a cuppa with DD and her boyfriend who live in the same city - they seem so happy that I was a bit cheered up.

[bigTillyMint]

Eeek re mould Best, but glad seeing your DD cheered you up.

I drove my DD back this morning - her house is huge (6 of them) and in a great location - made me wish I was a student again. Also did a bit shop at Asda so she won't starve till her loan comes through!
She has got a job interview next week - term doesnt start till October!

[ErrolTheDragon]

This time next week mine should actually be home at last!

[Needmoresleep]

Sorry landlord hat on again. There is lots of advice on the internet, but if damp is bad now it will only get worse in winter.

Keep doors open as much as you can, and bathroom windows, so a good supply of door stops especially for the bathroom. Don’t dry clothes in rooms that are prone to mould. Keep bathroom floor dry, so get bath mats which are then hung up. Dry off condensation that forms on windows.

Extreme, but you could buy a dehumidifier.

Mould is not healthy, so clean it. Purple Cilit Bang is good. My experience as a landlord is that I can go several tenancies without a problem, then it can be really bad. And that it is all about ventilation (unless the property has genuine damp problems- in which case the landlord needs to act.) stereotype- but it’s boys who never open windows or doors and whose rooms have a real boy odour.

DD and I cleaned up her flat. There was lots of mould in the kitchen, bathroom and smaller bedrooms. So far it has not reappeared, so hopefully it was poor habits of the previous tenants.

[Needmoresleep]

October! DD starts preseason tomorrow then term the week after. They finish about 2 days before Christmas and no reading week. They complete their course in 5 years whilst some other medical schools take six. I am starting to understand how they do it.

[BestIsWest]

Thank you NeedmoreSleep, I’ll pass those tips on to him. They had chipped together and bought some mould removing stuff which he was using to clean up. It was at its worst behind a wardrobe which was in front of a radiator so he’s moved that to another part of the room.

He’s just phoned and said they found a dehumidIfier in a cupboard and two men turned up this afternoon to start putting right all the faults they’d reported.

[bigTillyMint]

That's good to hear Best.