Another path - now we have a map

[chopc]

Chopc - Durham-History
@jano69 -Durham -History
@OnTheBenchOfDoom -Durham - Natural Sciences
@Majaso12 -Imperial - don't know subject
@bendmeoverbackwards -Bristol- History
@Pumpkintopf -Imperial/Cambridge -Natural Sciences
@ChimneyPot -Brown (US) - ? Subject
@Stillcrikey -Bristol -MML
@Tenpastseven - Bristol -also modern languages?
@Longtimenewsee - Durham - Chemistry?
@MidLifeCrisis007 - Durham -History
@BigWoollyJumpers - Exeter- History
@SeasonFinale -Bristol- History

@ChimneyPot are you guys ok? Am just watching the news about Storm Henri...are you flying tomorrow? Thinking of you if you're heading into the storm!

@Eastisup thank you for thinking of us. It is a concern. We might need to get more Covid tests done if the flight is pushed out for a day because of the storm.
And I thought I would get a few days sunshine!

Just a really random link for anyone.

I have bought jumbo laundry bags from here, were invaluable for DD1, and found this site, as I am refusing to buy anything from Amazon!

www.rexlondon.com/jumbo-storage-and-laundry-bags

Also DD just bought a really nice BIG washbag with flamingos on .

Thank you @BigWoollyJumpers (guilty of being a huge Amazon customer 🙈)

There are some great designs! Thanks @BigWoollyJumpers

Ds has just had his welcome to your Durham college. First choice so no change. Thank goodness.

There is a form via a link that literally asked for his name, UCAS ID and what his room preference was. No other details as yet.

@BigWoollyJumpers those look fab. Thank you.

Great news @OnTheBenchOfDoom !
If anyone is doing a trip to Ikea, they do these fab bags too, great for storage too, as they'll slide under a bed!
www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/dimpa-storage-bag-transparent-10056770/
@ChimneyPot hope you've made it over safely!!

@Eastisup literally went to Ikea this morning, lovely breakfast to see us through the shopping. We have a Dimpla bag for Ds (we already have these ourselves) and bought these too.

We also bought the blue Ikea bags. Again we already have some but we bought some new ones for moving Ds into college. At 50p each, a bargain.

DS and I ‘did IKEA’ today. I’m exhausted! Got most of what he needs but it all feels a bit ‘useful’ so I’m now trying to think of some lovelyness to add to his haul. He is particularly pleased with his one cup cafetière though (suspect they novelty will wear off when he has it to clean out!).
@ChimneyPot hope you got to where you need to be.

Will be interesting to see how it fares @Stillcrikey . Mouldy coffee comes to mind .......

I was waiting til accommodation confirmation to find out what size of bed etc but I assume most students will have a normal sized bed?

Morning all

DD is very happy to have her first choice college confirmed at Durham - what a relief.

She is feeling much better after catching Covid at Boardmasters which has now made national news as a superspreader event! She's been pretty much living in her bedroom and in the garden where we've eaten meals together. My PCR and lateral flows have came back negative thanks to social distancing and AZ.

She's had to cancel her driving test for this week - the date has been rescheduled for Jan 22 without incurring additional costs but we have splashed out on the Premium Testi App to hopefully bring the date forward.

Well done on those IKEA trips - we're going to buy most of DD's stuff online. I did IKEA with older DS a couple of years ago and it's an experience I have no desire to repeat!

@chopc From the accommodation websites for the various colleges it appears that John Snow have 3/4 beds, other colleges stated single beds. Must admit to not looking at all though.

@jano69 we are in the exact same boat, we had an interesting afternoon yesterday with him filling in the room preference forms with me on the phone, he didn’t really need me but it was reassuring for him and we had a good laugh. Enrolment was a bit more tricky on the finance questions but anyway it’s fine. He still needs to finalise his modules.

He might do an LFT today , his PCR test result seems to have gone missing , not sure I can be bothered to track it down as the LFT was conclusive and he definitely has it . He’s still coughing , could be because he’s talking too much on PlayStation etc but other symptoms seem to be going and he can now taste again.

@chopc ds is 6’3” and on his form it said if over a certain height tick for a long bed , so he did. Not sure if this happens at all colleges but I know someone who had a long bed at Cuths , otherwise the beds are only 3feet wide , if you hunt in the college websites you can find details of mundane things that teenagers don’t really look for !

I heard anecdotally that Mary’s has small ie 2’6 wide single beds!

They certainly had that rep in my day, it was also much harder to sneak out apparently in the morning !

Thanks all wrt bed sizes. I think I will just get standard single bedding and well- the ends can always be folded.......

DS is so not in Uni mode at all at the moment- so difficult to get excited myself

@jano69 congrats on first choice college

Annoyingly DS went to two different boots after booking appt for the Men B jab and once he got there was told they cannot give it !

SO annoying. Now we won't have time for two doses before Uni and I doubt if he will get it done in Durham in the middle of freshers or if that's appropriate anyway

Ds's bed will be a "small double" or 3/4 bed and Dunelm sells the fitted sheets for that. Duvet wise we have got him a double. For anyone who gets allocated John Snow there is a really good room tour video that went up recently. These are the pretty much the same rooms as South college just different window sizes.

@jano69 the trick with Ikea is to go for "browsing" which they don't advertise, they tell you it opens at 10 but it actually opens at 9.30 for browsing anything up to and including the baby/toddler/child bit and also the restaurant. We get there for 9.30, get breakfast, we go with a list and get it done and get out.

I would be most excited to buy stationery stuff but Ds is doing computer science so not a huge call for highlighters or lovely pens damn it.

Great news to hear Durhamites are getting their rooms finally, and that they are happy. Less good news about all the Covid post BoardMasters, but to be expected really! Hope it clears through by the time DD lands in Exeter. Trying to get her second jab early, but they are so strict around here, sticking to the 8 weeks gap, and then, rather unhelpfully, they are closing the final centre this week, and not opening up another until mid September! Someone didn't get the memo about uni students needing to be fully vaccinated before heading off.

Other than that, I think we are finally sorted on all our shopping. Gave up on JL as they were out of everything we wanted, and got the rest from Robert Dyas, which has a lot of good offers on. IKEA is such a pain to get to from us, and I detest the whole picking, packing, collecting, sorting thing. I only ever get stuff from there on-line, and then in bulk as it costs so much to deliver.

Only extra thing we had to buy was a new double duvet. Had been under the impression we had a spare in the roof. We did. However on unpacking it, it had gone all yellow and revolting and well past its use by date, and subsequently went to the dump. DD has therefore benefited from a nice new one.

DS hasn't heard anything about his Durham college. Sigh.

@MidLifeCrisis007 if he is a deferral from last year then none of the reallocation scenarios apply , so he won’t hear anything from central admissions it will not be until the College send out welcome packs. If they are a college in receipt of reallocations they may be waiting until everyone affected has heard from admissions before they do this .

They look great thank you @BigWoollyJumpers

Dd is still trying to work out what she needs. A trip to Ikea is in order soon I think. I've been feeling that I can't think about it properly until dd3 goes back to school on 7th September. Bloody hard having an autistic teen at home for so long. Our holiday to Norfolk at the end of July seems like ages ago now. We only went so early as she was supposed to be at a 2 week residential camp in the last 2 weeks of August. She managed one night

@Eastisup those storage bags look great too, thanks for the tip.

Dd has a single bed in halls, makes changing the sheets easier I suppose. Think we'll get everything from Ikea including bedding.

I hope those who unfortunately have covid are making a good recovery and hoping the isolation period is passing by quickly.