University life for our soon to be Year 2 undergrads (2019 intake): social bubbles (bursting?), the new normal and hopefully no second wave

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

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ah finally he speaks. Apparantly heading down to Bath in a couple of weekends, so about two weeks before start of the semester. Mostly because his friends around here are starting to move back it seems so there won’t be anyone to play football with..

He’d better get his backside in gear with what he needs to buy. I’m assuming any of hit posessions from his old accommodation will be either lost/damaged/disgusting or mixed in with others from his flat - ie don’t rely on them

(realistically he just needs a couple of simple duvet covers - we have spare duvets he can use) and some replacement crockery/cutlery and a frying pan

@simbobs

I think it will be hard enough to get needle phobic DS to have a covid jab when and if one becomes available, never mind the flu jab as well.

DD1 isn't keen but does it, dd2 loves to make a fuss, ds finds needles fascinating... and then normally faints about 30 minutes afterwards, much to dd2's jealousy.

I gave the school a conundrum last year with ds. He had a jab, so I put that he normally faints, (which means they do the fainters first) but also his temperature normally shoots up about 2 hours after the injection so could they do him last in the hope he'd get a full school day in.

I think that confused them so they did him with the rest of his form. Then sent him to PE the next lesson, so he fainted in the middle of that, and by the time he'd revived his temperature was up.
He was smug. I told the school I'd told them that would happen, and dd2 was seriously unimpressed.

Witchend I love ‘told you so’ stories!
I have a ‘I told you gas and air made me vomit’ story that a sticky consultant would rather not remember!

For those of you who have ‘admin’ children for student utility bills, can you explain how it works? Does the admin person set up an account in their name then they pay all the bills out of it?? All their flatmates pay a ‘flatrate’ into it? What happens if there is a shortfall with gas/elec charges?

Is the admin person the named person on all the bills?

@Zandathepanda, that’s what they did the last couple of years - seemed to work out fine - they all set up DDs to the admin account. All seemed to work fine.
I will check with DD

think its just more admin for collecting all the money etc. I’ve recommended DS looks at a separate account so he can easily see when money is paid in and it doesn’t get messed up with living expenses etc. Also to request payments to him a week ahead of when his Direct debit needs to go out, so he has time to chase if needed

I have a cautionary take over bills.
DS2 in his third year at uni, house decided one person each would be responsible for a bill, eg person 1 water, person 2 electricity in terms of registering with the provider and actually paying the bills. They had a shared money pot that they all put the same into in terms of actually providing the means to pay.
DS2 was lead tenant on the house.
Person 1 failed to register for the water, or pay any bills. Water bills were coming to the house addressed to DS2 as the lead tenant and as he was out on placement a lot person 1 kept binning them and he had no idea the bills hadn’t been paid. Water company eventually sent a court summons to DS2 ( who was still unaware any money was owed, person 1 had said oh yes all is fine and had been taking money from the pot for the supposed bills)
Fortunately DS2 was actually in when the court summons arrived and opened it, and was able to pay it immediately to avoid getting a CCJ in his name. Person admitted he had been stealing the money all the way along. As far as I know he never paid the Rest of the house back.

Eeek @Kashtan

A good alternative to setting up bank accounts etc for bills us to use an App like Glide and each housemate pays a flat rate every month for all utilities - yes it’s a bit more expensive but it is so much easier and avoids any one kid being left in the lurch

Dd worked out all the bills and Glide would have charged them £800 over the estimate. A couple of hundred is fine but £800 taking the mick. The Glide salesperson has a deal going with the agent and each of the flatmates were contacted by Glide saying ‘you are the last one to sign in your flat’ - that rattled all of them.

Assuming they can get their money back from Glide at the end of their tenancy @Zandathepanda. I ask because I have a feeling this is how DS's house is sharing out bills.

NewModel Dd was warned off by some third years. Then the aggressive sales tactic clinched it. The landlord also told them it’s cheaper to go separately. The lack-of-hassle factor is a selling point with glide I must admit but not at shelling out an extra £800! Although this is based on fixed costs with water/internet but a estimate from Octopus, who have now given me £50 and them £50 for me referring them. I will give them the £50 so that’s £100 of elec/gas in the account already.
There’s always the worry someone will not pay though.

Taking DS back to Nottingham tomorrow .. he can't wait to get back !! .. be strange without him as he's been back so long ! .. I feel a bit sad but nothing like last year !!! .. and I will enjoy the tidy house and low food bills

Arghhh Dd got everything out the garage labelled nicely by me in March. Unpacked it. Found out it wouldn’t go back into the boxes. Called for help two hours ago. I have now finished repacking it. I am having a cup of tea to calm down. It was the first day back at school for her younger sister and I really didn’t need the stress today!

DD has filled the spare room with her stuff. Goodness knows how it will all fit in the car! She leaves on Saturday, and although she is looking forward to going back she is also a bit nervous. She hasn't been out a lot since she came back, and is going to an area with higher infection levels, which worry her. One down, one to go...
The house is going to seem so empty. They give me a lot more work but I do miss them.

Good to know our dc are starting to return to uni. Zanda, that would've stressed me out too.

DS went back to Durham mid August but came back home at the weekend to catch up with family and old school friends. He returned to his student house late last night so we're back to being a family of 3.

DD also started Y13 yesterday so it feels like we've been catapulted back to some kind of normal routine. Who knows what the next few weeks/months will bring?

simbobs I agree - I am going to miss her so much but so glad she’s going. I feel she’s stifled here but the virus does add that element of the unknown to it, especially as she’ll have to deal with it on her own. Also I am unable to go with her as there’s no one to care for her sister. Silver lining is that that’s another person shaped area for stuff in the car.
Water+Internet+Gas/Elec all sorted!

Jano69 My Year12 Dd gives it 3 weeks before school is closed she said she said her and her friend were the only ones social distancing - all the pupils were hugging etc. They are two per table so 15cm from the next person. Her school says the year group bubble (240) will be off if there’s a case.

Meanwhile Dds flatmate can’t move in because she’s isolating as she works next to a positively-confirmed colleague (and is now waiting for a result). Is it weird to hope the flatmate is asymptomatic but positive so that, when she does move in, she is more willing to be able to help the others if they are more poorly with it?

No signs of social distancing in Dd's sixth form either but I understand that's the model. I've been very worried about the virus over the last 6 months but accept the schools need to reopen. It's a case of trial and error I suppose.

Zanda, I get you re your Dd's flatmate - the more people who've previously had the virus and been asymptomatic/ fully recovered can surely only be a good thing? If only to increase confidence as we all try to get on with our lives....

Yes it all feels like some giant human Petri dish experiment! Once back at university, I bet these cooped up students will make the most of it.There’s going to be some ‘legendary’ parties.

DS seemed to have a lot more to go back with than he came home with - which I don't quite understand because he's not bought much over the past six months! Oh apart from T-shirts which he reckoned he didn't have enough of - I've ironed 12 of his since he went back so must have at least 25 in total!

Now that they are saying that they reckon COVID-19 has been around since Christmas, I'm sure more of us and our young people will have had it than the official figures would have us believe! So the risk may not be quite what the doom-mongers would have us believe.

Good luck to all the younger siblings going back to school too. I am sure most are more excited about going back than they've even been before in their school careers! DD certainly is (starting in Year 10 on Monday).

Surely most teens have been out with at least some of their friends over the past couple of months? I'm thinking particularly of 6th Formers, in which case there will already be established bubbles within the larger year group. Also most school kids live in the same geographical area, so are exposed to the same level of risk. DS gf goes back to school today and I don't feel that he is at greater risk as a result.

Slightly different in uni cities, though, where people are coming from different areas with varying levels of virus. I really hope they instigate a testing system. Cardiff is doing it so others should be able to.

I am giving DS until Monday to start planning his escape, or the nagging starts in earnest.

simbobs yes I expect lots of 6th formers have. We are all negative for Covid 19 antibodies and we seemed to have everything going last winter. Problem we have is how Yr12 Dd (recovering from an unknown viral brain infection) is going to react. I expect high temperatures are going to lead to more seizures. This is why none of us including Uni Dd have been near anyone. It will be weird but lovely for her to socialise again without worrying about giving anything to her sister.

OH joy Leeds on possible lockdown how does it affect students when this happens anyone had this problem?