2017 seems so long ago, now they're fledgling graduates.

[latedecember1963]

4 years since A Levels and the wait for August and confirmation of where our chicks were about to fly the nest to.
It's been 4 years that has sprung a few surprises along the way, not least this lovely series of threads.

I think Ds's year's electives are cancelled to allow time for catch up on all the missed clinical placements. I'm not quite sure because they should have 2 elective stints - 1 in the community and 1 on a beach somewhere else. Looks like if ds gets one at all it'll be somewhere like Rotherham rather than Sydney! He's just started a 6 week GP placement in a 'community setting' where I guess he'll be learning a lot of life skills . The first thing he was told as he arrived was never to leave the surgery in his lunch break due to the amount of muggings outside. Last week it was a machete attack.

@Needmoresleep you must be missing your ds a lot. I hope he manages to find a clear travel corridor with the US soon. We've been asked to be unofficially in loco parentis for a friend's dd who is coming to London as an international student. Their country is currently red listed so I suspect we'll be having an extra guest at Christmas. It seems unlikely she'll be able to go home.

Haff, I suspect it is him who is keener to return home, home in the broader sense. Up until the age of 22 he had spent his life in Zone 1. Less than that - between Chelsea Bridge and Waterloo Bridge. Not surprisingly he was keen to get away, but after two years seems to be missing familiar places and people, and indeed climate. There is something to be said for a grey day in the city. That said, I have been thinking about a solo trip as soon as things open up.

DD goes back tomorrow. She is just staying on for a party tonight. It is probably her last time living at home, and I will miss her. It has been lovely having her around. She came with me to buy some walking boots and then pick up the car from the garage. The latter is close to Borough Market so doughnuts en route, and she got a T shirt out of our shopping trip so maybe some motive, but still nice. She then cooked me dinner. Monday will be the first time she will have seen her coursemates for 18 months and she is clearly excited. Any sadness is more than balanced by relief that she can get on with her life. We have now heard that she is not allowed guests at her London graduation. That's fine. We will see her before and after.

Suddenly everything seems to have got busy, busy. Work and socially. After so much quiet, I feel slightly overwhelmed. But again nice to see familiar people and go to familiar places.

Hospital etc do seem to be located in dodgy parts of town. On one placement they were told not to walk between the hospital and their, nearby, accommodation on their own. And that was a market town, I had always assumed as nice.

DT2 moves to Bristol Monday to start graduate job but his accommodation ( month in a 'spare room' until
He finds a flat share) has fallen through.
He's taken an expensive air b abs b for a week- anyone know of a spare room in Bristol for a few weeks?
He seems a bit nervous about the move / new job so this hasn't helped .

DS1 is loving his FY1 job , hospital very friendly and he feels well supported .

DT2 is in Paris for the weekend , still waiting for her masters result

Good luck with the son finding a replacement Bristol room Carriemac. My son's tenancy there finished in July and the landlord had people clamouring for it - silly landlord let it 2 weeks before my son and his flatmate were moving out so had to change that for the new people - h e is a very relaxed landlord who does not bother to check tenancy agreement dates! We have had the deposit back or most of it so the Bristol phase is all over now.

My son's friend who is coming to stay later today for the weekend needs to start his graduate work somewhere like Barbican 2 weeks before the flat he is sharing starts (sharing with 2 ex Bristol friends ) so I think is going to rotate between London friends for 2 weeks first which is no ideal for your first proper graduate job but I am sure will be fine or may be they will let him start working from home first.

My twins seem to have sorted out their group on their law course from some group lists issued yesterday - they had requested 2 day a week timetable but were put in different 4 mornings and the other 4 afternoons a week groups. The class registers by student numbers came out last night or first thing today and they seem now to be in the same group (of 13 law students) and twice a week sessions in person so that is what they want. There is only one in person session for their group this coming first week although hours of preparation for the week after which I hope they start soon.

I have never seen as complex covid requirements for their place including having two apps - NHS and another and logging into the building and then into their specific room and group with your phone, requirement to get twice weekly later flow tests and all sorts but masks in the actual classrooms seem to be voluntary which I know will please some (me) and not others as such as divisive issue.

Meanwhile pregnant daughter is doing her post holiday pointless quarantine which ends this weekend unless the very expensive PCR is positive (very unlikely as she had covid about 8 weeks ago). The state seems to be putting huge amounts of resources to visiting her at home and calling her time after time (yet she is immune) and yet is unable to provide so much of what is usually available in a normal pregnancy like post birth visit to your house, GP appointments etc.

Hope the accommodation is sorted soon @Carriemac. Not what he needs when starting a new job!

DS hands his diss in on Friday - end of an era! No mention of what's next for him and not heard about Masters graduation date yet either.

@Xenia, it's weird re Covid - when out and about all seems relatively normal, yet I keep hearing about various workplaces, schools, colleges etc where there seems complete overkill re procedures.

On covid I know people have very different views from each other. My son was saying that as I do he prefers a clear rule (we tend to follow law and rules in this family) and that the places where there is a choice over masks are harder (eg our Waitrose is a choice so he wears one and I don't, Tesco's sign says compulsory so I wear one, London underground compulsory - the clarity is helpful)(. in the class room it will be a moral judgment each student must choose, kind of publicly pin your colours to the mast in a way my double jabbed twins do not have to with the vaccination or see what everyone else is doing. 14 including lecturer in a room where you are supposed to talk all the time - they are essentially debating groups really in a mask in my view would be unworkable but if half the class have a mask on my two probably would put theirs on to keep the rest of the group happy.

Anyway the rule says voluntary so that means no need to wear one in the class. We shall see how it all goes. They will have to wear one for 40 minutes x 2 a day on the tube for a start as that is compulsory.

Hope the accommodation issues are quickly resolved.

We’ve finally made it to our family reunion. The flights to Luxembourg were very straightforward although much easier for the rest of the family as they have the European Covid Pass - hopefully it will be extended to the U.K.. It’s lovely to see my family again after so long. Have met DD’s boyfriend. He’s Italian and does a similar job to DD at the EU. They are talking about getting a flat together in the New Year.

At work we have to wear masks when moving around the office but being in the office is the exception rather than the norm until the younger staff have had their second vaccination. I am still wearing a mask out shopping (many of our local shops have made it mandatory) and on the tube and I’m 100% supportive of this. Hospitals are cancelling some planned surgery as there are more inpatient Covid cases again.

@Carriemac, DD in Bristol says there is a shortage of accommodation for both students and young professionals atm. She is in a 6 bed house with all rooms independently let (short trek to finish diss) and landlady is asking silly money from new tenants I hope your DS finds something - poss a bit further out?

Short term not trek!

@Horsemad well done to your DS! DD has (well hope she has as diss tutor v slow in sending his not in despite suggesting it) an extension till mid Oct. But seems to be a bit happier about knowing what she is doing now.

Thanks @bigTillyMint. He's printed a draft & DH is reading it through! 🙂

Hope your DD gets on ok with hers. DS had a bit of a blip with his data last week which caused a few hours if angst but all ok now 🤞

@bigTillyMint he's just had his air B and B canceles now - starting to panic 😞 !I've paid for a serviced apartment for a few nights to get him going . Bristol
Seems very busy this term with students and grad jobs.

The rental market in Bristol is wild. Long queues if a room becomes available. DD was looking in July and soon asked me to help, as things were going so fast. Then having wangled a viewing, both rushed down to see it, and took it on the spot at asking price, and an offer of both guarantors and rent in advance as well.

Has he looked along train and bus routes from where he will be working? Are there any upmarket private halls aimed at international students and young professionals? Ask everyone you know. Perhaps someone has an aunt who would not mind a short term lodger. Rent a room and flat share websites? Ask HR is they could send round an email/notice on staff section of website/notice board saying he is looking for a room. If somewhere is not ideal ask for a break clause so you can leave after 6 months.

Another warning. Trains are completely shot. Reduced times tables, COVID staff shortages. DD and I headed off to Waterloo today. Her aiming for Bristol, me for the South Coast. Both our trains were cancelled and she ended up on a marathon journey, with bike - hence choosing the slower more bike friendly train. Including 90 minutes in Salisbury as she got hit by another train cancellation. It took ages. She might have been better off riding the bike.

I agree on trains. We seem to have fewer tubes into London and lots of planned cancellations and last minute ones (we are also never mind covid the most unionised bit of the London Underground and have been for 20 years - they must have a very good union rep). However one of mine did get back from his camping with girl friend and then trip after that to her parents' house last night. I think he got into London at 11.30 so was probably back here before 1am. I heard him at 2am. Mind you that is earlier than his twin the night before whose friend is staying - my son got back at 4.20am and his friend came separately (it is apparently a long story!) - I could hear the 4.30am call to his friend - they always nicely look after each other so that's good - and then he left I think to walk him back up to the house from the tube, then they tried to be quiet - he put them both in the room furthest from my room and they went to bed around 6am - it was light.... not long before I was getting up.

Good luck in finding accommodation. This is my first year since 2016 when both or one twin has not been renting (both are living at home for this year's law course). They start today although today's sessions are online so I think no travelling in under Friday but vast amounts of preparation work.

Hope your son's 1st day in his new job goes well, Carriemac, and he gets his accommodation sorted soon. You'll be hiring a car and trailer tent or a camper van at this rate!
Sounds like you're having a good long- awaited family catch up, Parker.
Good luck to your lads on their new course today, Xenia.

@Needmoresleep great suggestions thank you . He's meeting up with the rest of the grad scheme recruits Friday evening ( induction is online) so
Hopefully will make some contacts there .

Very good luck to him with both job and accommodation @Carriemac

@Needmoresleep, DD doesn’t ever get the train - always Megabus to from Victoria. It is 3 hours or sometimes less, straight to city centre and is wasay cheaper! But not sure if they take bikes!

Agreed. I think the coach last week was only £3, though pretty rough. One person apparently went to the loo 12 times.

The bike was the issue. GWR apparently does not like bikes, whereas SWT allows you to book bike places and, including bike, was only £14. The main drawback was that the booked train did not exist. At Basingstoke (where she had missed her connection to the only direct train to Bristol) they phoned ahead to Salisbury ask if the platform staff could speak to the GWR staff and make a special case for the bike. Salisbury did not think that would be a problem. They had not seen the "grumpy guard" so thought he was not working that day. The others were likely to be understanding. They were probably right as she and her bike made it all the way. Now she can get fit cycling up Bristol hills.

On Covid, a friend has just spent a week on a Covid ward. She has a weakened immune system so had been shielding and had been double vaccinated. She was fine, and only needed extra oxygen for a few days, though faces a long recovery. Others on the ward were unvaccinated, sometimes relatively young and healthy, and very frightened, and whilst she was being discharged some of her companions were heading for intensive care. There is a lot of virus around. Deaths are still relatively low because vaccination helps. It may not stop spread, but does help prevent serious illness. The risks if you are unvaccinated are a lot higher.

End of public service message!

Nice chat with DD last night. The top for their IKEA table eventually materialised after they said they'd cancel the order and had already found a similar one second hand. They were discombobulated to find sofas have a very long lead time on them (mainly due to the lack of lorry drivers for the manufacturers getting the raw materials, she thought) - the one they really liked was 20 weeks, they've ordered one which should be 13 weeks and meanwhile are getting what she inelegantly describes as a 'shit sofa' - something small enough it will fit in her car so she's sure it will be easy to sell on if she can deliver.

@Carriemac Depending on where your Ds is working obviously but has he looked at accommodation in Bath? Ds is doing his placement year in Bristol but staying living in Bath with uni friends. It’s a short train ride.

The other place that Bristol Uni has put students in the past is Newport, Wales. DS stayed there one summer when he was doing an internship and there were plenty of accommodation options, including spare rooms advertised via Air BnB etc. Transport links are good and accommodation is cheap. But, obviously, not a Bristol vibe.

@Decorhate good tip - Bath may be a bit sedate for him but it's an option

Bath is lovely but I agree it is sedate.
My twins went in on the tube for their first in person session of their law course today and indeed first in person anything since they were sent home in March 2020 just before year 3 of their degree (they then did that term and exams at home and then did 100% of their law conversion course online the following academic year due to the pandemic and met no other students on the course!)

So it certainly feels like a back to school day today and when I drove them to the tube station it felt like driving them to school again (never mind the school run traffic which was as bad as ever.....). I am sure once they have done the journey a few times it will be easier to know how much time to allow, where you are going etc.

DS has submitted his dissertation! 🎇🎊🎇

I got in after lunch & he'd made Biscoff Rocky Road to celebrate and we've spent the afternoon listening to 80s music!

No idea what comes next for him jobwise...

Before anything, I will be insisting on a clean & tidy bedroom. I've let a lot go these past few weeks but no excuses now. 🙄

Congratulations Horsemad's ds - enjoy that well deserved rocky road!

DS finished his Masters today too as he did his presentation today after practising on us last night,. Sounds like it went ok. He's celebrating by going climbing with his mates and then no doubt the pub.

DS and I are partial to a bit of Wham 80s music too - it's clearly gone full circle from uncool to ultra niche cool