The ABC of university life (2019/20 cohort) - Will NewModelArmyMayhem18 forgive me?

[MrKlaw]

previous thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3701968-The-ABC-of-university-life-2019-20-cohort-settling-in-we-hope

Hope you don't mind - people have pent up comments about cheese graters and traffic cones to get out of their system!

@Piggywaspushed: Love the constant updates - sounds like mine! I am talking to him far more than when he was holed up in his bedroom next door.

I’m wary of booking train tickets in advance. I know DD won’t want to miss any nights out at the end of term.

Haha, me too kitty

Don’t think DD has plans to come home yet if at all. £80 return WITH railcard! One of the silver clouds to DS not getting into Durham. Travel from UEA is considerably more affordable particularly with coaches leaving from on campus!

Seems as if quite a few of our DC are on the move this weekend (or getting visits if not journeying themselves). Hoping everyone has lovely weekends.

@Piggywaspushed glad your DS is navigating such a relatively complicated trip so well - changes are always quite stressful!

@Benjispruce
I feel the same way. Dd has her accommodation throughout the holidays and I wonder whether there might be quite a few things going on the week after the end of term.
We always got chucked out by Sunday of 9th week for the interview candidates and it felt a bit flat finishing and going straight home, and I don't want her feeling she has to go because she's booked tickets but there's lots she's missing out on.

DS has his last lecture on 20th December, has dental appointment on 23rd at home so think he will come home

DC1 is in Manchester, but wasn't in the Arndale Centre this morning.

@BringOnTheScience Glad your DC is OK. Horrible, isn't it.

Our DC1 wasn't in Arndale either thankfully. I've always been a bit worried about Manchester so disappointed we only managed a month and one day before an incident.

I've just been looking on ebay to get dd a second duvet cover.
The one I was looking at presents proudly:
"The zipper prevents the ceiling to slip out."

I'm tempted to ask in the questions if Velcro stops the floor collapsing too.

@Benjispruce, that is exactly the same for me/DS - £80 return and won't want to miss any nights out!

@Witchend, DS has to be out by 10am on the day after term ends at Durham. I'm hoping he's not planning on going out up there on the last Friday night

@justasking111, I bet DS doesn't know when his last lecture/seminar will be

@bigTillyMint
Wow that's a quick chucking out!
It's the advantage and disadvantage of dd's college. She doesn't have to move out, so doesn't have to take anything out of her room, and, I assume, can stay up for the holidays as much or as little as she wants. However they do have to pay for the holidays too.

Ds is on his way home right now. Little does he know that younger brother has moved into the bedroom that was his & is refusing to vacate it for the weekend . Will discuss booking Christmas trains over the weekend

Seriously guys, don’t use the train, especially from Durham! National express or mega bus is £15 to London and you can use Tesco vouchers! Free travel! ..
talking of Durham.. ds2 is “far too busy” to talk to me! 🤨
Ds1 is still giving me a running commentary .. and I have to admit, I love it!

That's worth knowing @Ingles2 , although she'll then have to catch the train out of London again.

I've noticed this week the communication has gone down. I'm hoping that's because she's busy rather than she feels abandoned. She responded to ds' loving messages rather than mine yesterday, which is quite sweet.

I got into travelling by coach late into my own university days and have never really looked back. Left to my own devices I'd still be quite happy doing so. DS is totally sold on the idea of spending as little money as possible on travel. And his journey is no longer by coach than by train. They should be arriving any minute now :-).

Why wouldn’t she get on another coach @Witchend? Ds2 will do Durham to London, then London to Ashford.. it also leaves at midnight from Durham so they can sleep on the coach and arrive at 6am! Tbh I have 2 boys who will be more than happy to sit on a coach with their phone and WiFi for hours on end

@Ingles2 but we're only 40 minutes from Waterloo by train, so she could underground from Victoria to Waterloo and then straight through from there. For coach she'd have to change twice in London and then only get in further away than the train.

We are a bit in the sticks. We can drive to a station and her total travel time will be 3 hours. Or she can take an 8 hour coach and then a half an hour drive!

Wow @bigTillyMint that is early.
I’ve just looked up Megabus and found a ticket for £10.10 from Durham to London on Sat 14/12 !!!! We don’t need to go to London so does it stop anywhere? It’s a 6.5 hr journey but what a bargain!

Bargains on the trains too if you find dodgy times. There is a train from Newcastle (stops Durham) to London Friday 13th 21.15 gets in at 01.05 to Kings Cross £19 with a railcard.

Ooh @zandathepanda will have to look. Megabus would be a mega journey then to get out of London. Still amazed at the price. Picks up from University too.

@Ingles2, @Benjispruce, @Witchend, it's like 6 hours on the bus. Or more. Not sure he would go for that when the train takes half the time.

DD only gets the Megabus to and from Bristol - not much slower than the train and a quarter of the price!

That’s fine for us @bigTillymint .. we are right on the south coast so it’s going to take a day whatever.. easy to get on the coach and fall asleep.. I need to book for the weekend of 13/14th dec ASAP as ds2 has eye surgery at kings on 16th.. booked especially to fit in with the first day of the holiday .. I just don’t want him to miss out on any parties..

Think there were only a few seats left at that price.....