UEA (2019) Surely 2021 (and getting on for halfway through our DC's degrees) things have got to get better????

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

New thread following on from the previous one.

Lots of and into 2021.

Thought I’d pop on again as I’m flying back to Canada tomorrow, it’s all still rather complicated getting in and unfortunately I have to pay $1100 for the pleasure of being cooped up in a shitty airport hotel room for 3 days as part of my quarantine, as long as I test negative I can then go home to complete my 14 days!
It’s DS 21st Birthday today, I’m not sure what he’s doing as I haven’t managed to talk to him yet but hopefully they will do some house celebrations.
He came to stay with me in London at the weekend and we went to visit the armoury at The Tower of London as part of his Birthday (his choice of course) we’d not been there since he was about 8 but it was lovely and very quiet, so much amazing history !
DS has his jab tomorrow at uni. My other son hasn’t been able to book his yet in Bournemouth even though he’s older. Good on UEA being ahead of the game.
I’m hoping to be back sometime in September but it’s all dependant on the house we are buying here so can’t really say how long that will take.
DS will be staying in Norwich for the summer, I just hope some of his housemates stay as well.
Are all of your DC finished now? Or are some exams still going on?

@Itscoldouthere good luck for the journey/quarantine. DS is finished, bar any resits he has to do (I am praying/crossing fingers and toes on that score). He does find the work tough. He is still playing as much sport as possible, although that will taper off when they get to the end of the rent extension period for the people in halls. His girlfriend's course goes into July and home for her is only 45 mins away from campus, so I expect he won't be back much until late July.

If you check the gov website tomorrow morning it should say open to all 18+ so DC can book both doses. But if you still have DC in Norwich there are drop in sessions for first dose of Pfizer for the next three days,

I should add that the drop in sessions are open to anyone 18+, I emailed them to check.
DD is 19 and had hers today at another local drop in clinic in Diss who are running another one tomorrow afternoon.

Good luck with your flight and quarantining @Itscoldouthere Expensive business travelling internationally at the moment!

DS has finished his assignments (seemingly no exams for geographers this year). Still up in Norwich (think he's planning on staying there for most of the summer as long as he gets a job).

No news of whether he's booked to get jabbed as yet (he is not the quickest off the mark, for sure!).

Happy 21st to your DS (is that 1 or 2)? I'm guessing by the interest in war history it's DS2 though? We only visited the Tower of London relatively recently but got so much more out of it for going when the DC were older. Glad you had a good time! went to an exhibition t'other week expecting it to be really quiet but it wasn't at all! I was quite dismayed (I hate there being too many people around when you just want to stop and absorb history and artefacts!).

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 it was lovely being so quiet, I had a really good long look at the Crown Jewell’s they are amazing !

@Itscoldouthere last biology exam tomorrow. Then Ds is finished. Good luck on your return journey and quarantine.

@juicy0 apparently Ds could only book the first vaccine. It would have been nice to book the second closer to home as he will be working through the summer here.

@icanbewhatiwant he could only book one online? When I booked I had no choice, I had to book two. How weird 🤷‍♀️

Is it the difference between booking for the Pfizer and the AstraZeneca vaccines, though? DS2 (18 but Group 6) and I have had both doses of AZ and could / had to book both together. DH (frontline medical staff) and DD have had both and first Pfizer, respectively and could only book the first one initially - different booking system for NHS staff, but still only 'one at a time.

You may well be right @MarchingFrogs. The website still says booking for over 21 but if you fill in the fields it does let you book for over 18 now. Just managed to book DD's second dose online following her first dose at a drop in clinic today

@juicy0 he said only the option to book one. That's how it is with our health centre. We could only book one then had to wait for a text for the second. It was almost 12 weeks exactly when dh was called for his second. I had a text calling me for my second last week, the earliest I could book was next weds. That's almost 11 weeks after my first. I know people booking online can have the second sooner.

Has anyone else's dc's booked 2 through UEA then?

Ah, so a question of whether you book at a surgery, or via the national booking system...? Come to think of it, the other difference with DD (apart from getting the Pfizer vaccine) was that she had a message from her GP, to book at another surgery. Whereas I got a letter, with details of how to book via the national booking website or by ringing 119, which I did. Despite his status, DS2 got no invitation from anywhere, but 119 let me book him in for both jabs, having asked me for his NHS number.

DS could only book his first through UEA. When it gets to the 8 week point I will encourage him to call 119 for an appointment, wherever he happens to be in the country at that point. (I had my second jab this week, 3 1/2 weeks earlier than originally booked for after phoning 119 to see if I could bring it forward towards 8 weeks rather than 12).

@icanbewhatiwant I understand, there must be differences depending on whether you book via your GP/health centre, calling 119 or using the gov website. Fingers crossed all 18+ can get both doses before term starts in September so they can have a more normal uni experience. I haven't seen any info from UEA about their plans for f2f teaching next year, have any of you?

@juicy0 yes Ds obviously booked via UEA text message rather than doing it online. For those not intending to stay at UEA it might be best to book online. But there might be a way to book the second online. I'm so glad our health centre were doing the vaccine as only 10 mins drive away. People in our nearest town, using the local surgery had to travel a long way for vaccines. It caused such a stir to start with. There are some a bit more local now. But still not as close as our surgery.

DS2 was already home when he got a text from the GP - I've booked him and DS3 next Wednesday near us and they should get their second one early September just before they go back

Off to Norwich tomorrow to take both DS's for a Father's Day lunch in town and start bringing DS1's 5 years worth of stuff home. Several journeys will be needed, I think. No idea where we are going to put it all. We are half way through an extension and my own crap is all over the place, not much space left.

Hope the weather improves

@sluj I hope you had a nice meal with your family. Norwich was really busy this weekend and traffic around the uea was bad as the A47 is closed meaning the route in is via the inner ring road instead. I think lots of campus accommodation contracts expired that might explain it.
DD is still looking for a room for next year after the terrible experience she had in the last few weeks with one of her former housemates. I'm hoping she can find a house of fellow third years to enjoy her last year with.
Just in case any of your DC are still in Norwich they've just announced more drop in vaccination clinics for the weekend, details below.
Have a good week everyone x

It was good thank you @juicy0. Traffic was busy though but not as bad as my home town !
We went to the Georgian Town House which was nice but portions not large enough for my 3 chaps.
Hope the house hunting goes well 🙏

Hope all the DCs are well. DS2 self isolating as pinged by the app, and now several of his friends and one of his current housemates have tested positive. He's had C19 already and had his first jab probably a month ago now, and his lateral flows, obviously not as sensitive as PCRs, are coming back negative. To say its put a dampener on the final few weeks of the 2nd year though is something of an understatement.

Youngest came back home for the summer two weeks ago and has just got the self isolating ping. He suspects it is from those football nights in the weatherspoons as local mates got it too. He has had his first jab and feels fine but says he has never had so many friends all being told to self isolate . What a pain

What a pain @boys3 and @sluj. I've read that Norwich is a bit of a hotbed of the Delta variant at the moment .

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 I think everywhere is a Delta hotspot currently. Not sure if that should be followed by or . Probably the latter.

Indeed @boys3. And now there's a Lambda variant starting to run amock.

Yes...they said on the local news that Norwich has the highest covid rates in east anglia. They said 30 positive cases last week, they've encouraged testing and 15 this week.

Sorry to hear people testing positive.

Ds is home for the summer. I wrote on the other thread that I'm fed up with the mess already. I'd forgotten how bad tempered he is too. He was fine the first few days, now he's back to being moody.

He had his results a few weeks ago.