UEA freshers (2019 starters) part 2

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread and hope you don't mind that I set up the next thread @juicy0. Just did it to ensure that we carry on chatting seamlessly

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Thanks @juicy0. Will pop over to the new one to say hello in a mo!

Welcome back @CointreauVersial. I was wondering what had happened to you! Hope everything is okay?

[juicy0]

I've started a new thread as this one is almost at the limit.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3865785-uea-2019-dealing-with-the-unexpected-and-on-to-2nd-year

[CointreauVersial]

Evening, UEA folks! Haven't been on this thread since the early days, but thought I'd check in to hear the latest on the room vacating saga.

I had a few emails back and forth on Friday (clearly the Accommodation Office working hard; responses appeared within minutes!), and ended up with the same email as GoldenRuby i.e. "watch this space". I feel we are being held to ransom if they continue to charge us for the room while we cannot (unless we disobey the government guidance) get to Norwich to remove posessions. 19th April is a bit of a pipe-dream as a deadline. And I'm kicking myself that we didn't remove everything when we collected her on the 14th (but how could we have known?).

I think they will capitulate at some point, because several universities (Durham, for example) have said they will cancel the rental licence and stop charging rent, regardless of whether the keys have been returned, and I don't think UEA have a choice.

Anyway, hope you are all surviving lockdown. All good here. DD1 busy writing a 2000 word essay which needs to be submitted tomorrow; I'm relieved that a little bit of learning is still going on amidst the chaos.

[Missyelliottsaysso]

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 thank you for your reply.
Well done ladies for keeping this thread up, I was originally checking it daily back when our DC started uni back in September and it’s lovely that you’ve kept it going.

[NotSorry]

Sorry for the double posting! Mumsnet playing up

[NotSorry]

I hope all those feeling poorly get better soon

Getting close to 1000 posts - will need a new thread soon!

[NotSorry]

I hope all the ill children feel better soon

we’re getting towards 1000 posts - time to start a new one yet?

[icanbewhatiwant]

@Itscoldouthere dogs do sulk don't they? When we've been on holiday we have a house sitter. So they stay home. But they make it quite clear when we get home that they are annoyed with us 🤣 are you planning taking your dog back to Canada? When you can finally go back. I hope you are all keeping well and haven't caught whatever ds had. The same for you @juicy0 and your daughter. It sounds like recovery will be slow.

Apart from dog walks when we don't see many people. It is only me that will be going out to the shops for food. So the virus comes here then I've brought it in after shopping. I'm even worried about who has been touching the food in the supermarket. Apart from fridge stuff, I'm leaving everything else in the garage for a few days. Hoping any virus will die off in there.

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

I can think of nothing worse than not being able to breathe easily :-(.

[juicy0]

Thank you @NewModelArmyMayhem18 @Itscoldouthere @icanbewhatiwant the rest of us are well at the moment 🤞🏼
She's a little brighter today but her chest tightens more if she so much as walks up the stairs so I think the recovery will be a slow one. Her friends have been great, keri t her spirits up with messages and FaceTime but talking exhausts her so it's short and sweet at the moment.

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

@Missyelliottsaysso they will be issuing further instructions to those with possessions still in their rooms this coming week. Your DD doesn't need to panic because clearly they've now accepted that 'disposing of' people's kit isn't acceptable.

So sorry to hear your DD has been so poorly @juicy0. Do you think she picked it up at UEA before coming home? I hope the rest of you keep well.

Sorry to hear about your DS too @Itscoldouthere. Again, hope the rest of you keep well. Glad to hear that your dog has forgiven you.

@icanbewhatiwant your puppy sounds a bit like one of our 'kittens'. The sisters have been with us since they were about 10 weeks old. One is really cheeky and confident, the other shy and quite nervous.

[Itscoldouthere]

@juicy0 so sorry to hear about your DD being unwell it must have been very scary for her and all of you.
My DS1 (not the UEA one) has also been unwell, it started last weekend but luckily he didn’t get too bad, 39 was the hottest he got and was only unwell for about 3 days, we kept him isolated with his own room and bathroom until last night, Iuckily he never had problems breathing.
He will be able to leave the house as of tomorrow, so at least he can get us some fresh veg, chocolate and I’ve run out of gin! The rest of us need to wait until next weekend before we can go out, just hoping we don’t develop anything next week.
It’s all too real when someone in your home is ill, it must be terrifying going to hospital.
I know from NHS friends they are expecting things to escalate next week, so it’s going to be difficult for lots of people.
I’m pretty sure UEA won’t hold them to removing possessions by 19th April, I expect we will still be on lockdown by then, who knows when they will get back, but we certainly shouldn’t be travelling just to pick up possessions at this point.
Glad to hear the pup is feeling better @icanbewhatiwant it’s tricky re not being able to socialise her, hopefully she’s learning from your other dog.
I’m very happy having my dog home, I’ve really missed him, but he’s been sulking with me and it’s taken a whole week for him to come and curl up next to me, I suppose he thought I’d abandoned him as he’d been with my sister for 9 weeks.

[icanbewhatiwant]

Gosh @juicy0 that doesn't sound good. I hope dd is getting better now. Isn't it annoying they won't test. At least you would know.

@Itscoldouthere that's annoying about the house sale. Not much can be done though. At least they are all in the same boat. Though dh had new tenants moving into a property yesterday. It all went ahead as usual. One problem though, dh had 2 of the bedroom carpets and the stairs taken up, the carpets people laid the underlay, but the new carpet didn't come in, it's stuck abroad, so tenants went in on underlay. Nothing we could do.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 thanks for asking about the pup. She had her second vaccine yesterday. All seems ok at the moment. Another week and we can finally walk her. She's so nervous of other people. We can't let her meet anyone else for a while. So I hope we won't have a nervous dog. The other dog is very friendly, so hopefully pup will learn too. She is certainly a lively character with us...she loves her voice, it's very high pitched and goes right through our brains 🤣

Keep safe everyone!

[juicy0]

Just had confirmation via evision that DD's accommodation fees for next term have been deducted. It's good in the sense that we have to start paying for her private 2nd year room in July and with the current Covid situation the money saved will come in very handy. But I can't help but feel incredibly sad for all that she and her friends are missing out on. I really hope that the new term can start as normal in September and they can make up for lost time, socially and educationally!
DD has been incredibly unwell this week with Covid symptoms which meant we had to call an ambulance at one point as she was really struggling to breathe. After several hours in hospital things calmed down so she was sent home as they said it was safer to be here than in the hospital. It's been 8 days and she is only just starting to turn the corner. They wouldn't test her as she is not considered to be in an 'at risk' category but I have never seen anything like it, it's totally knocked her six. Her temp was over 40 and heart rate racing around the 120 mark for 6 days!

[Missyelliottsaysso]

Hi all...so DD is very anxious about her belongings in her accommodation and is desperate to empty her room, but when?
A lot of her friends have managed to empty their rooms, we will have a four hour round trip and I am very reluctant to drive anywhere at the moment. However if we don’t we will be charged £1100. DD has contacted UEA and they have just sent her blanket information about before 19th April.
Such a stressful time for all and my DD is so worried about it, just not sure when to make the journey .

[NotSorry]

No it’s uea accommodation - he’s saved £1800 - he probably had a bit to pay as the 3rd term is shortest

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Is that for one of the private providers @NotSorry? A pity that he has to pay anything but £170 is better than £1400.

DS says a friend of a friend has opted to stay in Norwich. Apparently the food shops in the city centre are very quiet which is more than can be said for those near us. DS volunteered to do an interim shop for us today. He was home very quickly having been put off by the 500 people ahead of him in the queue!!

[NotSorry]

That’s good news NewModelArmyMayhem18

I checked DS’s finance and his rent has been reduced and he’s now only got about £170 to pay

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Just to let you know that DS received an email yesterday afternoon that indicates that those who have stuff left in their rooms can leave it there for the foreseeable future BUT can still terminate their room licences! It implied that more instructions would follow next week - obvs they can't send keys back; at some point they will need to pick up their stuff.

@Itscoldouthere how very frustrating for you to have got so close to completing on the house sale. GRRR. I guess the silver lining is that you are together as a family.

@icanbewhatiwant how is the puppy doing? Has she had the rest of her jabs yet?

[Itscoldouthere]

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 house sale is now unknown, the day of lockdown our buyers were saying we want to go ahead as planned as our rental is ending, I was rolling my eyes saying can’t you see a lockdown is coming and we won’t be able to move our furniture.
I’m glad they have now said no house moves to go ahead, as it won’t now be us who holds things up.
I don’t know what it will mean in the long run, if we loose the sale or not. We are now paying for empty accommodation in Montreal and mortgage here, not ideal but we aren’t going out so not really spending much. Not paying the uni accommodation fees would help.
I’m feeling a bit down and confused today, I’ve been packing and now I don’t know when/what for, it’s weird unpicking a family home not knowing how it’s all going to pan out.
So glad the sun is out, although I realised yesterday I have hay fever, normally I get it by February but being in Canada meant I didn’t get it, (they are still having snow days in Montreal) but at least it explains my runny nose and eyes.

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Good news from your DS1. Fingers crossed that UEA do the decent thing!

Has your house sale been put on hold now @Itscoldouthere? I do hope not.

Beautiful day. Fair gladdens the heart.

[Itscoldouthere]

We got the holding type email, so still unsure as to our position as DS still has things in his room.

Much to my surprise we got an email from AUB accommodation this morning saying all accommodation fees scraped, I’m surprised because DS1 is in a fancy new building that’s privately run, although booked from AUB accommodation. No mention of having to clear rooms by any particular date.

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Apparently the students are going to receive another email from UEA today re accommodation fees.

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

@icanbewhatiwant precisely re the rooms not being used. I actually said that and reminded them that some students (DS included) didn't get the email until after BoJo's lockdown message.

I wasn't very impressed by the 'disposed of' suggestion either, I can tell you. I think at this time, more than ever, people will need to be watching their pennies, not agreeing to have ££££ worth of stuff chucked out due to bloody-minded accommodation officers! DS has a bulky and heavy-duty, expensive winter coat sitting in his room. New for university. I will be beyond unimpressed if that's not rescued.

Glad that you were still able to attend your hospital appointment.

I am amazed at how compliant people are generally being. It's such a massive adjustment in the way we live our lives...

[icanbewhatiwant]

I'm glad we emptied ds's room when we did. But for those that haven't...it's not like anyone can use the rooms if we are all meant to be staying home. So it seems a bit unfair. Hopefully they will re think.

I don't think we will be allowed movement again after the 3 weeks. It'll be at least another 3 weeks again.

I had a medical appointment in Norwich yesterday yI had to attend. It is a 45 min drive from home. I'd say a fairly normal amount of cars on the roads. Though I had to go right into the centre of Norwich. Once in the centre it was very quiet. The car park had 3 cars in and was free parking. No police about stopping people. I had thought about taking the keys back to UEA. I thought I probably wouldn't see anyone. But decided not to risk it. Plus...no idea where to take them without ds with me.