Heading towards year 3 exams (uni 2017)

[Xenia]

Continuation of www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3538808-heading-towards-year-2-exams-uni-2017 as we have reached page 40.

Hard to believe they are all in year 3 now and many will finish university in June 2020.

Mine are still coping and feel they have a nice routine now at home so I am glad they are happy and both have no immediate deadline so just relaxing at home. I bought a new computer for one of them as he has been using a very old family one which takes 40 minutes to switch on!!! So as he is going to be home more including part of his gap year when he plans to get a job to fund 2021 travel it seemed a nice thing to do. We couldn't get his monitor to work with it however so he's borrowed his twins' spare one and has an adapter coming tomorrow which should solve the issue. The new computer came within 24 hours!! following an on line order.

Being total optimists we are hoping lock down will end before end of tenancies on 1 July so that they may be able to go back for a little bit of the final term particularly as it [ the final term] is not something that can be replaced or done later. Anyway we shall see.

I must say after they have usually so very very many friends here (including 20 at New Year) is it very very nice for me to know there will not be random others here in the day or in the night (not that I don't like their friends but it is more peaceful).

Has anybody's DC doing medical studies been asked to help in hospitals? This certainly would be an experience and a half for them.
It's weird, because I'm typing this on a beautiful sunny morning and the footage from the news bulletins seems a million miles away, but we know family and friends who are in the thick of it all.
How is your older son getting on, Xenia? I'm sure his more vulnerable customers must be so thankful for him.
Hope all the dissertations are going well.

My older son is still busy driving the delivery van. Very early on his employer started taking temperatures every single day before the shift and they have not taken food inside homes for weeks either so he seems pretty healthy. He says his job does not have a lot of one to one contact with people now so he feels safe, although I suppose the van might get the virus from another driver perhaps but he seems fine so far. he is also young and fit and thin which probably helps.

He bought a house in Oxfordshire in October and moved (with same employer) there so has a lot of nice country routes too and the traffic has always been the worst bit about his job and that of course is almost totally gone now so I suspect it's easier for him now not worse and at least he has a secure job. I think they are all getting a 10% bonus too. I still think he could get a better job but it is his choice and he's over 30 now and this is what he wants which is fine with me. I don't need 5 lawyer clones as children.

One dissertation done as the deadline was early and the other one not due "for ages" so he is certainly not working on it now. His new computer came within about a day yesterday and I am pleased I got it as they are so stuck in the house at present...although plug and play is never that simple - spent an hour trying to get his monitor to work with it and it only would with his twin's spare one so a part is coming today to help with that. He had an old family computer which took 40 minutes to go on (although both twins had a new lap top for university 3 years ago so hardly deprived).

I agree @latedecember1963, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the jets are still flying (I live near a large military base). Everything seems so 'normal', yet the world is in crisis. Very weird feeling.

We spoke to DS on Sunday, did a virtual Easter egg hunt in the garden! 😆 He looks well, says it's hard to stay motivated as when the library was open he'd walk there & feel he'd made the effort, so would crack on with his studies. Now it's easy to get distracted on his phone. ☹️

We live near a major London A&E and the sound of ambulances has been a constant, though it seems to have eased a bit in the last few days. It is not a sound you get used to. We have also seen Ambulances parked up whilst staff take breaks, and they look shattered.

Otherwise it is lovely. Quiet, sunny blue skies, less traffic and pollution.

It was difficult for DD to get involved. The medical school closed quite suddenly and she was in lockdown in London. They were then told not to take on any commitments beyond mid April. Some of her friends who were already working as part time HCAs stayed on, but as far as she can see, the West Country has not been as stretched as some other places, and so even those who did try to get involved were not being offered that many shifts.

Term starts on Monday. Even though it is on line it is timetabled, so she is working on readjusting her body clock to be ready for 9.00am starts. .

The amount of ambulance sirens round here has dropped. I remarked on it to a Paramedic friend who said he'd left A&E that night and there were 4 people in at 6pm which is unheard of. He said people were scared they'd catch the virus, so weren't ringing 999.
He was pleased, as for him, it meant he was attending genuine cases, instead of the idiots who call 999 for a broken thumb, for instance... 🙄

In fact, saying that, I can now hear a siren - first one for a good 10 days and we live near a main route!

Hello all, good to hear you're all safe and sound wherever you are. Ds hasn't been able to volunteer in hospitals at all. I think third year students are just too inexperienced to be any real help and they'd just be adding to the number of non essential people milling around and transporting the virus around. He's managed to get himself a job cleaning out the Covid ambulances for the new Nightingale hospital near us. I'm very relieved that he will be in full PPE (the sort where you're basically in a sealed onesie with ventilator - he's been warned not to fart while wearing it ). However the start of the job keeps getting delayed because they're not needing the hospital beds or ambulances yet. Very good news for the NHS, not so much for ds's bank balance and boredom levels. Hoping it stays this way round for all our sakes.

The continued gloriousness of the weather this spring is rather surreal. We've just got back from a very pleasant walk in field paths we hadn't realised existed, and hardly anyone else does either.

We've not needed to go to the shops at all - veg, meat, bread, eggs and now fish delivered plus a milkman. Getting pint bottles has left me a bit surprised how much milk I get through in tea! And the pharmacy has got deliveries organised, which is brilliant.

DD and her BF seem to be keeping each other on track working, as far as I can tell.

DS commented today that it's like the summer holidays except for not seeing his friends. We've been sitting out in the garden today as DS and DD did the gardening for me yesterday when I was out at work - most unexpected as I hadn't asked them too.

We've switched our shopping to use a local family run farm shop and a delivery company who do recipes and send the stuff for the recipes you choose in a brown paper bag nicely chilled as appropriate, we've been eating better than we did before so we won't be going back to supermarkets after all this is over. Our diet is so much healthier, I haven't had any chocolate for nearly a month but then bought a bar yesterday when I went to work (as I had to get petrol to get there) and don't fancy it. I haven't missed it, nor the wine that I've not had in the house but I've just ordered 6 bottles from an online supplier at a £15 discount. That was an impulse buy which I'm now regretting as it is to extravagent really.

DD is working away on her dissertation, I'm going to proof read it again later. I might print it and go out in the garden with it.

The world and his wife walk up our usually very very peaceful private road (which we let the public on although I am beginning to think we should close it off). Ijust went out and picked up a plastic glove and silver paper which must have been from the car full of young men playing Indian music my sons heard at 1.30am one night who probably thought it was a quiet area to do some kind of drugs in. I used gloves etc, washed my hands so feel relatively safe and I don't want that on the verge near our house. I wish if people walk up here they could leave it as they used to before Covid 19 rather than thinking they can make us litter and dog poo central particularly as residents have to clear it and the council does not despite £3800 a year council tax.... oh well small problem amongst a sea of disasters for many clients, life's work destroyed, no income, no work.

betty, I proof read my son's recently too but just once before he sent it in. I had done the same for the older 3 years ago. It had pretty good grammar and spelling actually so not too much to change.

Back to work now which I am lucky enough to be able to do from home.

I have asked DS not to fling the dissertation at me for proof reading the night before it's due as is his wont. 🙄

We live next to a nature reserve and have been surprised at how quiet it is. Nice though. 🙂

Haha, Horsemad , good luck with not getting the dissertation at the last second. I have 2 ds and a dh (English not his first language) who all ask for proof-reading of essays, reports, job applications - you name it, always at about my bedtime the night before the bloody thing's due in. And because I'm a controlling SPAG pedant I can never say no.

And Betty enjoy the wine guilt-free. If you're going out to work you deserve it (or if you're staying in).

My brother is a delivery driver too although a lot of his regular drop offs are campsites and farm shops locally (big tourism area) so he’s expecting to be furloughed.

DS has left some design drawings he needs for his final submission in his student house so he is busy trying to recreate them from memory. He’s missing his friends a lot I think but has been helping out with the house and garden to keep himself busy. We sorted out the loft yesterday and found lots of photos from my student days which amused him greatly.

We’ve also been walking the dogs round some local fields - we’re lucky to have them at the end of the road and no animals in them. We’re all missing the beaches though - none are quite in walking distance but we’re usually on them twice a week all year round.

And Betty enjoy the wine guilt-free. If you're going out to work you deserve it (or if you're staying in).

Thanks :-) We're working on a rota according to need at the moment so we're all getting some work and some days off.

I wish I'd got some tonight as I'm proof reading the dissertation.

for @bettybattenburg!

Xenia that must be so annoying- we live in the countryside and the 'day trippers' can be so disrespectful.
My DS asked us to look over his 6000 word dissertation the day before it was due in and it needed a lot of grammar and sense checking - pedantic DH was exhausted

Yse, my son sent the dissertation the ni ght before it was due but I checked it first thing the next day when I was fresh. I think he also worked on another final draft and was going to move my changes over to that so I am not convinced even if he agreed with them (they were just grammar or spelling and not too many) he would have put them in.

No new drugs or dog litter on the verge today. i did my once a week supermarket shop at 10.30am not 8.30pm and it was much much better or perhaps I was just less tired although there was a slightly mad older lady who is often in Waitrose at the till who just could not really cope with the stand back and I will sort the machine out for you from the kind staff in there, I noticed they let in a doctor and then as I left a nurse to the front of the queue which is very nice.

I got everything I wanted except one item. It certainly felt like the least safe day for the week however as even in the eque an older man in a hat who obviously wanted to make a point that he doesn't like the restrictions came to the left of us all looking at plants so I moved over by another 2 meters.

I think I manged to book a Sky repair for tomorrow (been down a month - satellite external issue) BUT the email back suggested automatically that they are doing no repairs so we shall see.

I reported a huge tip of rubbish on street at end of road to the council which I suppose is because the council tip is closed but even so.

I'm profoundly grateful at the moment to live in a village that's pleasant enough (on a day like this, anyway) but in no way attractive to non locals.

Sounds lovely,. Errol. I am grateful I have a garden. Certainly things could be a lot worse. Sky repair is now on Monday and my sons just left for their once a week food shopping - trying mid afternoon rather than last thing before it closes as we all found the late time really difficult last week - loads of people rushing in, all tired etc (when we had hoped 8.30pm might be an empty time).

That's very annoying about the rubbish Xenia

Thanks for the wine Horsemad I have some prosecco in the cupboard (end of term gift a while back) which I don't really like but I'm going to crack it open tonight and see if I do like it after all. I've not tried it before as I don't like fizz but desparate times call for desparate measures.

DS hasn't seen his mates at all, they are chatting online and so on. He's getting very annoyed with the teenagers who are hanging out in the field behind our house. I've phoned and reported the lot their this afternoon and we've had a helicopter go over so I expect a car is on the way - or a horse! I got waved down by a policeman on horseback on the way back from work to ask where I'd been.

DS is at home writing his dissertation. My fear now is broadband / tech failure.

Chilled Prosecco on a sunny evening sounds lovely.
We've had no alcohol at all since we finished the bottle of Isle or Harris gin we brought back from our holiday last year. I'm sure we could get some delivered but were probably better off without it. will do.

AutumnCrow that would be a disaster of similar proportions to CV19.

Glad to hear everyone is doing okay.
We are also lucky to live semi-rurally so can go for walks without meeting many people.
DD will be having online exams later in May and I am worried about broadband failure. The broadband locally is struggling with a lot of people working from home.

@bettybattenburg Can you imagine the strain on the UK's broadband infrastructure of many hundreds of thousands of students attempting to upload their dissertations at the same time, just before (say) midday on the 30th April?

My DS has just informed me his laptop is being held together with stick tape.