Oxford and Cambridge current students

[sandybayley]

Nearly filled up the old one...

Apologies if your child is an offer holder and gets superheroes with low moral standards.

It might be home from home for them.

FingernailNibbler - medwards sounds like it is.

Totally random question - for those of you with dds at Cambridge, where do they get their haircut?

sorry. hair cut.

www.thebarberscambridge.co.uk/

I think they have a student discount on certain days of the week.

Thanks Ironoaks!

So they are ok for women too?

I would hope that they'd be willing to cut anyone's hair, especially if it's in a short style.

Sorry: I missed the part where you specifically asked about DDs. 🤦
I woke up quite late this morning.
The place I shared is more of a traditional barber.

Don't worry it may well be helpful for someone else.

D1 has heard from others on their WhatsApp that her college have now dropped the required 'proof' of need to return and are using the form as pps have described, with a booking slot for date/time of arrival. So she's put her request in and I've changed our hotel booking (again!) with fingers crossed. She feels a bit stressed by the whole thing and that she'll be going back in a few days time, but I think it's better that she gets back to Oxford before term starts rather than in the middle, especially as she's still to sort out her timetable (a real pain for joint subjects).

@JulesJules so pleased that one worked out. These colleges are going like dominoes now. I'd love to know what happened / changed

That's great Jules.

If its any consolation, dd was really thrown and quite anxious about her sudden return when it came. She was only given a few days notice, after having resigned herself that it wasn't going to happen. I was a bit worried about the impact on her. Two days after she returned, she was happily working and settled back in. I hope that is the case with all the returnees.

@JulesJules I'm glad to hear that they're no longer asking for medical evidence.

Unescorted, roof box? My DD is going to need a moving van! Lessons learned for next year, I hope, especially as she may need to move out between each term!

That will be a shock for them.

What has changed .... lots of irate students and parents writing to their MPs. It is a politically controllable situation if there is no big announcement, but the unis are get a call on the quiet to ask if they can start encouraging students to return. F2F teaching then becomes a thing between students and academics as the "mass movement of vermin spreading students across the country causing the death of all the old dears in care homes" can be shown not to have occurred.

DS1 safely delivered back to Oxford. City was glorious in the sunshine and busy. It's a scandal if any remaining students who want to go back aren't allowed back. It felt very much like a 'normal' spring day - with the inevitable Endeavour filming...

@sandybayley it must be the day for it.

Dropped DS off in Cambridge today. The porters had his name on a list and updated his camcard so he could get into his room. They had attached a laminated "student self-isolating" sign to his door ready for his arrival. He is in his room now for 10 days or until he gets a negative result back from the weekly PCR screening programme, whichever comes first.

He's allowed access to the gyp but can't mix with anyone else from his household (he is the only one back from his household anyway). The college will deliver food, but it needs to be ordered in advance and he only had non-perishable stuff, so the porters allowed us to go and buy him some milk, bread, cheese, fruit etc and let us back in again to deliver it to him.

He has plenty of reading and revision to keep him occupied until lectures start on 23 April.

Interesting @Ironoaks - DS1 had to test before leaving home and needs to test twice before teaching starts (he has labs) but there is no requirement to self isolate. He'll be eating in college (marquee) tonight and was headed out to meet friends in the park.

Nice to hear about people getting back to their colleges!

DS still hasn't heard back from his O college since filling out the request form on Wednesday. Is anyone else still waiting to hear back? Wondering if this wait is normal or if they are being particularly slow - or I am being particularly impatient!

So pleased (most) DC are heading back to some normality. Hopefully all will be allowed back very soon.
DD (O) didn’t need to isolate either. LFT on arrival (last Monday) and Thursday. Meals in marquee and relative normality.
DS’s (C) household have been asked to ideally arrive on Tuesday ready for college-wide testing on Wednesday. No need to isolate, normal meal arrangements in Hall/marquee.

@Ironoaks your DS's college sounds like my DD's. In the end, she was allowed out early and now seems to be very happy. She is having a drink with the Master tomorrow evening along with others who were there before Easter.

@OhYouBadBadKitten, DD normally gets her hair cut when she comes home. Sadly, the last time it was cut here was in September I think. She did have a booking for January but the lockdown happened so she went back to C and did it herself. She does have long hair, so it's not so obvious. She has just booked something for mid-May, so I'll ask where she's going.

@mutterphore that's good news for DS2. I hope you get some well-earned peace & quiet for a bit.

@goodbyestranger I hope DD4's room is ok. She's a resilient young lady though so I'm sure she'll be fine.

In terms of how DD's college has behaved, I have been impressed by how they have handled everything. It has been named on here in a positive light, so that's all I'm going to say. The people on here who know where she is, please could you refrain from saying it.

To @ClarasZoo (sorry if it's the wrong person) in DD's college 8 people share a gyp. They were classed as a household in the autumn term. After Christmas, with so few people in, they allowed friends or people on the same staircase to form a bubble. That worked well for DD. When her bf arrived back and was the only one on his staircase, he was allowed to join her bubble as there were only 3 others in it. The gyp is pretty small though - somehow they managed to have a Christmas "Floor-mal" in there - heaven only knows how!

@Pepermintea - D1 was told she'd hear within 24hrs when she sent her request to return in yesterday, and she heard first thing this morning. Others on her WhatsApp had also heard back promptly. Her college was previously being really strict, so this gives the impression that they are letting everyone who asks come back for the beginning of term. Hall is closed for food, so not sure what the arrangements for meals will be. I'll get a bag of essentials, milk, fruit etc on the way.

Jules, that's really good news about your DD. I hope everyone can get back to college as soon as they want to.

DS1 (C) goes back on Saturday and DS2 (O) next Sunday. I'm not clear whether they need to bring a negative test certificate with them or wait and get tested at their colleges and hope they get clarification on this soon.

It would be lovely if there's some sense of normality when they arrive back but the thought of them both being immediately stuck in their rooms even for a few days would be dire, so I hope they can do whatever needs to be done to get a bit of freedom. They've not mixed with anyone at all but me and each other since they came home in early December and I've not mixed with anyone other than them either, so I'm sure they'll both be fine and test negative.

DS2 didn't need to go into lots of details at his Zoom meeting about why he needed to return to college and it was just accepted that he fulfilled two of the main criteria to return. DS1 just filled out an online form and didn't even need to have a Zoom meeting with anyone.

DS1 and DS2 cut each others hair - very competently - with a special mens' shaver with interchangeable length cutters. So they've saved a lot of money not needing to go to a hairdressers.