Finishing year 13 in 2017 part 2

[user9512736123]

New thread as the old one is at 990 messages!

And I'm laughing too because we may have finally got accommodation sorted after one of the most stressful few days I can remember since, ooh, exams. And results.

A belated best wishes to teta and her daughter. I hope it goes well.

Aw Liney I hope you are sorted, it's been a bit of a PITA hasn't it?

I'm currently trying to source bedding; from saying 'I don't care what colour bedding you get me', DS has suddenly become extremely fussy...

I am sending DD off with bedding from home and will buy nice new stuff for here

DS's bedding is really old, I held off replacing it because his room's getting decorated after he leaves but his old bedding is past it and won't be going to uni!

I've just sat and gone through DS's finances with him. That was interesting.

I'm lucky, DH does all the financial stuff with DD. OTOH I'm not sure I shall trust him to go on any more shopping trips with her after they got back from dunelm with 2 duvets (ok, they were cheap and her old single had been washed so often it really is too compacted), an oversized memory foam pillow for himself as well as a more sensible one for her, but no sheet or cover for the extra duvet, which had been the main point of the trip.

Wah! Sorted ds tv licence yesterday. That's another expense. Pretty crappy that the Beeb doesn't do discounts for students on top of all other expenses.

I've got ds a couple of new things, some from his sister bought in dribs and drabs, and some stuff from home. Bought new pillows because home ones have seen better days and he can use them with cushions to turn his bed into a sofa. Maybe?

I forgot about the tv license. So they need one per room in Halls? Quite the money spinner for Auntie!

The TV licence thing is the most ridiculous thing ever.

Imo the halls should pay for one and that is it.

We checked and because only Netflix is going to be used then they don't need one, I do think it's silly that they need one otherwise; it's just a money maker isn't it?

There was a bit in the paper the other day about the tv licence and students. It said that you now have to get one even if you watch just on iplayer but there was a loophole in that if you watch on the laptop and it is purely catch up tv and the laptop is not comnnected to the mains then you don't need one. Connect the laptop to the mains to watch, then you do!

I'm wondering if halls is divided into flats, with distinct flat addresses (e.g. 'flat E12, Ripoff Hall') whether they'd only need one license per flat, not one per room?

There's some info here:www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your-home/students-aud1?WT.mc_id=r107&x=0

I think the loophole for being covered by the parents licence if the device is powered by battery not mains is essentially because people are allowed to use portable devices away from their home - it was probably originally for tvs in caravans, I guess. www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/Live-TV-and-how-you-watch-it

DD doesn't watch much TV, none by herself, so (after she and DH checked the rules, he's a reader of small print) I think they decided she wouldn't need one.

There was a bit in the paper the other day about the tv licence and students. It said that you now have to get one even if you watch just on iplayer but there was a loophole in that if you watch on the laptop and it is purely catch up tv and the laptop is not comnnected to the mains then you don't need one. Connect the laptop to the mains to watch, then you do!

I think they will assume that if you have a mains cable for your laptop then you are using it. They seem to be hot on that kind of thing! How they would tell which flat in a multi-storey block was the one and which bedroom though is not clear....

Talking of multi storey, the fire issue is concerning me.

If you don’t need a licence, you still need to tell us
Before you tell us you don’t need a TV Licence it’s worth checking carefully. We do make visits to confirm that a licence isn’t needed. This is necessary because we find almost 1 in 6 people who have told us they don’t need a licence actually do need one. If you are sure, tell us you don’t need a TV Licencee_.

I was worrying about this at 4am this morning. And sort of decided that as DS doesn't watch proper tv at all st home then he should be ok. But I need to check with him about iplayer as he'd be watching it on his computer (not a laptop) which has mains power...more bloody money !

Liney when I applied for ds's online they get you to put in their accommodation postcode in the address finder thing. It then came up with a drop down of what I took to be addresses for that postcode. I get the impression that that was their list for places that had had students from previous years who had applied. Their were house numbers and room letters listed but also a few houses that instead of room letter just had "kitchen, house number 15" or whatever number. Presumably in an attempt to get round that, iyswim. I got him one for his room anyway after dithering, mostly because I panicked he'd get a huge fine if that went wrong. Don't know if I did the sensible thing.

tobee I think you did.

I tried to do something with the postcode we have but all the addresses are room number, flat number etc so we can't do anything yet.

I will talk to DD about her viewing. She generally just watches Netflix on her phone/laptop, which wouldn't require a licence?

DD's halls have cladding, but apparently it has been fire-checked and is safe. I hope that is true.

From what we've seen on the tv licensing page, Netflix is fine without a license.

As for the cladding, the hall that was allocated has been checked too. This year is the third lot of students in so I think it might have been ok from the start.

bigTilly googled the student village where ds's house is and saw a local newspaper headline from, I think, 2014, showing photos of a neighbouring block in the village merrily ablaze . Everyone got out fine apparently and were re housed but it's not my favourite info I've found. Kind of doesn't exactly surprise me with thousands of 18 - 19 year old cooking for themselves. Didn't tell ds as his a bit of a worrier. And am trying to forget I saw it myself.

DD's accommodation dept sent them a video of kitchen fires