Chicken bald back

[Alis girls]

Well ES has finished his first year and the apron strings are now dangling round my feet and he arrives home tomorrow. We went up to get his stuff in our modest Ford focus. Hes coming home later as he wants to go out with friends and frankly we wouldnt have fit him in the car so ...

1 How many tins of baked beans does one male of 19 need? he has accumualted a box full - these are now ready to go back to his new accomodation in the autumn. Good to think he is concerned about gut health - me I have of visions of hours spent on toilet and wind

2 Why did we bring an empty bottle of bleach back with us? (it was in his bathroom stuff)

3 Why were we told too late storage was available for students bits if needed.

4 Why didnt we hire a Pickfords van?

5 Why did OH and I look like a couple of extras off one of the gypsy programmes with stuff piled up in the car?

 

So any mums seeing their little uns off to Uni this autumn - this time next year this will be you - proud, frazzled, knackered and pleased they and you got through the first year unscathed.

[Alis girls]

Sorry posted in wrong section - apologies.

[mullethunter]

An empty bottle of bleach?!!

 

That implies cleaning! I'm stunned

[Cat tails]

[chickencam]

We are at the other end of the scale with ED who has just done her finals, we went to collect her bulky items from her flat yesterday and will be back in a fortnight for her and everything else. She doesn't want to part with most of it because she will have her own flat when she gets a job. Although she will be at home for most of the summer and her room was full before we started filling it with uni stuff, so far it has packed away quite well but next time it won't be so easy.

 

With DS because he is so far away he has put his stuff into storage and flew home with just a couple of cases. It is costing £120 but is cheaper than the fuel and hotel costs of going to collect him and take him back. I also think it is a good lesson in not having too much stuff if they have to pack it and store it each year.

[Alis girls]

Cleaning prob the morning we arrived. I didnt bring the nine cardboard bits out of the loo rolls stuffed behind toilet - recycled them. I wish we had been told about storage sooner. Hes off to Spain tomorrow and we had to move him as I cant take anymore time off work.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Liz, is your son's romance still going strong ?

 

We've had an easy summer flat-wise as YS is home for the summer (although he's in Iceland at the moment on a field trip ) but is keeping the flat on till next year.

 

Where we're going to put everything when he finishes Uni, I have no idea . A lot of ES's stuff is still here as his flat is tiny.

[chickencam]

Liz, is your son's romance still going strong ?

 

Yes thank you it is, he is off to the U.S. For a few weeks in mid July, she was a bit worried that she might have failed one of her course modules, which would have meant a trip back in mid August and her notes are in storage, but fortunately she just passed.

 

St Andrews is well geared up for storage because there are so many international students.

[Bramble]

Well, I wouldn't be providing too much free storage at home for "stuff" if I were you!!! Speaking as a former student myself - they are inclined to take advantage!!!!

I'm on a long term program to help my mum de-clutter her house - it was the turn of the wardrobe in "my" old room yesterday - yikes - the bottom part of it is FULL of old uni notes/books etc from my time at uni and that's a fairly significant number of years ago - back in the 90s! I'm appalled that I have just left it there really, I wasn't ready to chuck it all when I moved out, but really should have taken it with me - never mind, lots of stuff for recycling and I reckon the floor boards will be breathing a sigh of relief, too!!!

[kinsk]

How times have changed!!!!

 

There were 3 of us and a fiesta, and this was back when fiestas were much smaller! if it didn't fit, it didn't come.

[The Dogmother]

I have this all to come with Rosie; we are off to do Uni open days soon

[Alis girls]

I think next time round I will be wiser and older I will make sure I suss the place out and buy food and cumbersome stuff like airers down there. When we went down in Sept of last year we saw loads of cars full to the hilt of stuff going to Bristol, Bath and Exeter. I think I did it the hard way but when you live so far away and have a job and younger child to think of its not easy. God help single parents esp if their partner isnt in the picture to help out. OH says YS is going to a London uni and I will be doing my homework before he goes. YS says New York sounds good - I think not - I can see a pig flapping past the window.

[bluekarin]

Yup, that will be us this time next year. ED is off to Bristol this year and I am dreading it. Actually, no, I am not dreading it, but I will miss her dreadfully. We are quite close and spend a lot of time together due to her illness, and I think it's the illness part that worries me the most. In case she is in a lot of pain and no one is there to help her.

 

The other issue is she just can't cook. Has no interest in it. Lives food, but just won't cook. After her exams have finished, we are having a crash course of easy 30 min meals she can do herself, preferably without the need of an oven.

 

But anyway, if you see a black Mazda, with a cello, guitar and pillows stuffed up against the windows, winging its way down the M4, that'll be us

[Alis girls]

My sons at Bristol Karin. He was in Hiatt Baker self catering. We were worried as he could do beans on toast, usual rubbish but hes become quite proficient. There are catering accomodation too. And theres a nice cafe with good food reasonble - she wont starve. I planned to teach him the basics but the rest he did himself. I wrote him a guide on cooking a few things like pasta dishes and buying food (much of it stating the bloody obvious)

Ours is a Ford Focus complete with a frazzled middle aged blond (me) Greek looking guy (OH) and a teen with his knees round his ears (ES) and a carful of junk - thats us. Meet you at the service station. Waves

[chickencam]

My ED was in Hiatt Baker halls too in her first year when they were building the new blocks which was a bit of pain with mess and noise also they had a couple of water and electricity cuts. The builders were incompetent.

 

She has lived in Redland for the past two years and loved it, lovely quiet area right by a branch line station which was handy. She only has a week left in her accommodation then uni is all over, although talking to her tonight she has had about as much education as she can take now after years of exams. She is desperately job hunting.

 

I have got used to mine being at uni much more easily than I thought I would, it is easier when they are happy though.

[bluekarin]

She is hoping to live in Hiatt Baker as they have the adapted rooms and are right next to the bus hub She is going to do the catered package as she has enough from student finance etc plus her disability to pay for it The new block is really lovely and the adapted rooms are huge!

 

See you at the services!

[Alis girls]

It is lovely and the people are nice. If shes disabled are you allowed to go down with all her stuff another day. Its chaotic even if you are able bodied - I would ask although I am sure you;ve sorted it all. I hope she will be happy, my son had the odd blip usually when unwell or exam time but they soon make friends if they want to - the reason I say that is that one or two in his block were not friendly - not shy just not wanting to get involved. See you there

[ubereglu]

I've been delaying packing and cleaning at the moment, so my room is not exactly the tidiest. However I really must get started on it today, as I'm moving out next Saturday and want to spend the day with Mum and Dad taking them around some of my 'favourite' haunts in Birmingham before I move back home. My parents have always had to rescue me and my stuff at the end of academic years, as 1st year I was in halls, 2nd year in private accommodation and then moved to Wales for the year, then back to Birmingham. Now I'm leaving Birmingham to start in places anew come Sept/Oct-more about this in another post!

 

I do think that this year I will have the least amount of groceries being taken back with me, which will make a change! I appear very good at always being well stocked on the basics...just like my parents really, as they hate doing the grocery shopping at Tesco and we usually just stock up on fresh things.

[Mrs Webmuppet]

This made me think.....I have it all to come. Just as well we have a trailer for Mr Ws car it's bad enough collecting LMW from boarding school (I have that excitement to look forward to next weekend).

[chickencam]

My ED has had to hire a man and a van to empty her flat today, because unfortunately my OH has spent the weekend in hospital having an abscess drained we were going to do it for her today. On the plus side she will be home by teatime and I am really looking forward to having my three offspring under one roof for a few weeks again

[Angie]

Both my girls went to uni from home .....so all the mess just cluttered up the house and books and note books were everywhere, and if i was doing any studying it was unbearable. When they got married and left home it was all left with me , it took years for them to agree i could get rid of things. I even came across library books which i took back, with loads of apologies....No fine was applied they were just grateful to get them back.( And i left very red faced as one was mine. )

Now my girls are 42 and 34 and come this September are both returning to uni to retrain, one in animal psychology ( equinine i think ) and the other as a theatre technician.I have visions of my GC going hungry and shoeless as money so precious has to go on books and paper, i can see i will not have any finances to call my own for the next 4 years. But All the mess and clutter this time will be in their own homes.

[Alis girls]

You will need the trailer - pity you arent nearer I could ask to borrow it.

[Cinnamon]

Nothing can be worse than the move my eldest had from her first house back to home.

Luckily The husband has a van & a trailer.

All 5 girls decided to move out on the same day, 4 of them were not on speaking terms, which was awkward for the parents

And some bright spark decided to book the carpet cleaning company for the same morning, so we had that to contend with too

 

The only bright spot was that they got their full deposit back, which was a first in the 8 year history of the lady who ran the let.