Yet Another Cycling Forum

Random Musings => Miscellany => Kidstuff => Topic started by: Fab Foodie on 31 August, 2012, 04:53:04 pm

Title: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Fab Foodie on 31 August, 2012, 04:53:04 pm
Any good advice, ideas of stuff required to send 'em on her way? Practical and emotional.

Things she'll need (other than money).
Treats/surprises
What was useful
What's not useful

What's the experience here to help her on her way?
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: hellymedic on 31 August, 2012, 04:57:28 pm
A two week supply of knickers
Long teaspoons
Cash's name tapes
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Clare on 31 August, 2012, 05:24:13 pm
It depends where she is going to be living. If she is in a hall of residence flat with 4/5 other people it is almost guaranteed that there will be more electrical goods in the kitchen than you can shake a stick at. If she's on her own a kettle is essential.

I've answered this kind of question before but the essentials are something like:

Practical:

Teabags
Milk
Biscuits
Her favourite mug
Corkscrew
Bottle opener
Tin opener
Enough credit on her phone
Clothes washing powder/liquid


Emotional:

Posters
Some good music playlists
Enough credit on her phone
An offer to pay for tickets home for about weekend 3 or 4.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 31 August, 2012, 05:57:37 pm
A basic toolkit: Screwdrivers, pliers, adjustable spanner, soldering iron, sewing kit, assortment of adhesive tapes, ultimatebootcd, head torch, allen keys, multimeter, WD40, radiator key, RJ45 crimper, cable ties, socket set, oscilloscope, vernier callipers, electron microscope - that sort of thing.

It's the sort of thing only engineering students think of, yet the first week in any student accommodation will be full of all sorts of molishing and fettling tasks, from putting together Ikea chairs to getting PCs speaking to the network.  Fixing loose shelves blu-tacked in back place by your room's previous resident (who presumably studied literature or history or something, where you actually read books) and making your radiator actually work can greatly improve the level of comfort.  DAHIKT.

4-way plug boards.  The n+1 rule applies.  If in halls, cunning ruses to camouflage them may be required.

Nothing that appears on the prohibited items list (though see above).  That includes ornamental candles that are a present for your gran.  (Again, DAHIKT.)

Condoms.  Someone will need them.

Be prepared to take a load of redundant cooking equipment home immediately.  You can't predict what the other housemates will have until you get there.

Bicycle.  I really wish I'd had one of these.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Clare on 31 August, 2012, 06:22:29 pm

Bicycle.  I really wish I'd had one of these.

Make sure it looks unfashionable/like a heap of shit and has a good lock.

Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Clare on 31 August, 2012, 06:26:17 pm
Oooh yeah, nearly forgot some memory sticks and a stern lesson in the benefits of backing up.

Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 31 August, 2012, 07:12:36 pm
This is the Century Of The Fruitbat.  If you've got to university age without learning about the disk fairy, then you deserve what's coming, surely?

(Good advice, though)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: barakta on 31 August, 2012, 07:21:12 pm
My mate's mum is German and she sent him a German style "advent calendar" in the middle of his first term which was basically a huge parcel on mini parcels attached to a big ribbon with a parcel every day kinda thing.  My friend and his family weren't ones for saying their feelings but I get the impression he was incredibly touched by the thought which had gone into it.

Each mini parcel had a variety of things from a packet of favourite sweets through to a pair of socks or undies.  It was the mix of sensible and silly and sweet which I think made it.

I can't beat Kim's list, I think we knew we were right for one another when we discovered the other had a soldering iron (she actually used hers ever, I hardly used mine).  More seriously my screwdrivers (I had 4, 1 medium crosshead + flathead and a small crosshead + small flathead).  Pliars.  A mini sewing kit (travel ones can be useful).

My sister loved one of those "how to do all the things" howto household tasks books I bought her out of "can't find a thing to buy bratchild for birthday" which made me boggle cos I'd just have googled it, but she liked the book format.  If daughter is the sort of person who likes that kind of thing, or will learn by browsing.

I actually liked the good "cheapass student cooking" books.  My college had one each of the tutors had contributed to for £1 to charity which I still have.  The sort of thing which really does start from basics and most of the food is cheap, cheerful, easy and nice.  That might be something you could compile over time sending her pages every week or something.  Or get different relatives to contribute to.  Sometimes it's not the "usefulness" so much as the kindness and family value.

A mini first aid kit might be useful, alka seltzer ;) but also paracetamol, ibuprofen, etc with simples instructions for the inevitable fresher's flu survival. 

Although to a large degree the most important thing at this point is learning to back off as a parent and give them space to enjoy uni and screw up on their own.  I work with students and the ones who seem happiest are those whose parents are calm and relaxed who they have agreed contact with rather than "argh not more phonecalls go away" sort of thing.  Text messages can be nicer for that and ensuring she knows she can call home whenever she wants - and then hope when you don't hear from her no news is good news cos she's so busy.   

I hope she has a fantastic time and finds good things and places for herself within the university community.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Pancho on 31 August, 2012, 07:42:45 pm
The only thing I'd add to those lists would be, for paranoid travellers like me, an emergency kit containing torch, get me home cash etc.

And a decent pillow or two. Unless halls have improved since my day.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Clare on 31 August, 2012, 07:59:51 pm
This is the Century Of The Fruitbat.  If you've got to university age without learning about the disk fairy, then you deserve what's coming, surely?

(Good advice, though)

You would boggle at the number of students who appear in the office in a state of *mild* panic on hand-in deadline day who cannot get their dissertation/essay/poster/plans for world domination printed because their computer has crashed/burned/been stolen/their mate thought it would be funny to delete the only copy.
When I was a penniless research pleb all my work was backed up on 5.25" floppies from a BBC Masterthingy and it took forever but losing one day's work was enough to teach me it was necessary. At the library a couple of years back we had a somewhat deranged looking student come to the counter asking very specifically for laptop number 12 because the day before she had saved her entire dissertation on it, not a copy and not on a disc/stick, actually on a shared laptop. Incredibly although seven other people had used the laptop after her, the work hadn't been wiped or played with.

Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 31 August, 2012, 08:03:49 pm
You would boggle at the number of students who appear in the office in a state of *mild* panic on hand-in deadline day who cannot get their dissertation/essay/poster/plans for world domination printed because their computer has crashed/burned/been stolen/their mate thought it would be funny to delete the only copy.

I suspect that, sadly, I wouldn't.  :facepalm:

There's an old sysadmin saying: "You can lead a luser to clue, but you can't beat them to death with it".
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Canardly on 31 August, 2012, 08:13:32 pm
Students railcard, free membership of Scottish YHA, mini fridge (fridge not cooler) bike as above, decent lap top, small pressure cooker, small microwave and grill, mobile phone, dvt usb thingy (halls normally have tv license) Pots n pans,  Duvet covers etc  it goes on........
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Clare on 31 August, 2012, 08:14:51 pm

There's an old sysadmin saying: "You can lead a luser to clue, but you can't beat them to death with it".

You can if it's engraved on a big enough lump of tree.

 :thumbsup:


Maybe Charlotte could expand her spoon-making exploits.

 :D
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Clare on 31 August, 2012, 08:17:44 pm
Students railcard, free membership of Scottish YHA, mini fridge (fridge not cooler) bike as above, decent lap top, mobile phone, it goes on........

If she's in Halls check the regs, I know UoP ban any fridges in student rooms.

Regarding a laptop, if you are going down this route get in touch with the department to find out whether PC or Mac would be better and what software they recommend.

Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Canardly on 31 August, 2012, 08:20:27 pm
Good advice ^^
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Noodley on 31 August, 2012, 08:22:15 pm
The only things a parent need give a child when heading off:

A hug
A smile
A wave goodbye

 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: hellymedic on 31 August, 2012, 08:28:30 pm
Knowledge of laundry processes and washing machine use is handy for both parent and progeny. I never took my dirties home at the end of term, unlike my cousins. It's useful not to tumble dry some things.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 31 August, 2012, 08:33:55 pm
My son is off in 2 weeks time. I have had a discussion with him about what he would like to take. He will basically be going with:

He will be fine  ;D
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Fab Foodie on 31 August, 2012, 10:44:11 pm
Good stuff!  Thanks.

Noodley - can't argue with that!

Computer-wise she's pretty savvy (regularly uses an external hard-drive for backing-up) and will probably need to buy a Mac for her course, but we'll wait to see what the course recommends.
A selection of basic tools (not quite the full Kim list, more the Barakta version!) is a good idea I'd not considered as is sewing and first aid kits.  The multiplug block is an excellent idea.
She has a shabby bike but probably won't take it straight away (she rarely cycles anyway).
2 weeks supply of Knickers is a good idea too!
I don't doubt she'll go without a veritable hamper of long-life comestibles either.

Keep 'em coming!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Jasmine on 01 September, 2012, 12:52:06 pm
If staying in halls, before you start buying white goods for the kitchen, and furniture for the room, please check what the university has already provided and what is specifically not allowed.  I've had many a conversation with an irate parent on freshers weekend about how they are going to have to take that full size fridge/freezer home with them.  We don't even allow students to bring their own kettles - if everyone did it there would be 8 in each kitchen, or people would use them in their rooms, which sets off the fire alarms.  Mini-fridges are usually only allowed if there is a medical need.

I would suggest:

Computer
Stationery
Bedding (check what the uni provides - we provide nothing so students have to bring their own pillows, duvet, as well as sheets.  I went to a uni which provided them, including the sheets and a laundry service once a week  :-[)
Phone
Food - staples that keep, treats
Cook books - your user name suggests you may have this covered
Plates, utensils, pans - stuff they will use though.  Students tend not to need a 145 piece dinner set and 12 different types of pan.
Fancy dress - if she is a going out type, there is ALWAYS a fancy dress night out in the first 2 weeks.
Biscuits to share with the new flatmates to get to know everyone
Then send them off knowing that you are always at the end of a phone line. 
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 01 September, 2012, 01:23:32 pm
I have a copy of More Grub on Less Grant she's welcome to. Pm me a name and address and I'll post it next week.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Julian on 01 September, 2012, 01:29:10 pm
When I went to uni my parents gave me a really useful box of kitchen stuff including salt, pepper, ketchup, an assortment of herbs and spices, OXO cubes, that sort of thing.  It was brilliant because everyone else had brought beans, pasta, etc but nobody else had any salt!

They also sent me off with a large box of beer.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: barakta on 01 September, 2012, 02:02:45 pm
Agreed re electrical items.  Julian's box of condiments sounds like win as does beer (or equivalent as I hate beer).  I did make myself popular one party inna house cos I gave away the stash of nasty beer my now ex had left in my room when we ran out of booze. ;)

If you did the sending a recipe a week/month thing one thing you could include is "how to make cheap punch" we did that a lot as students :)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: hellymedic on 01 September, 2012, 02:13:06 pm
Assuming there's a supermarket within reach of your daughter's destination, I might suggest not packing her off with groceries for more than a couple of days. They're bulky, heavy and often don't travel well. Daughter will have to use local shops so she might as well acquaint herself with their staff and wares in Freshers' Week.

A few tea bags, biscuits and some hot chocolate sachets are welcome but kitchen arrangements and security vary. Theft from kitchens can be heartbreaking...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 01 September, 2012, 02:15:14 pm
Oh, and impress on her that she mustn't ever leave opened tins of tuna in a communal fridge because they make everything stink. Tupperware ftw!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Jasmine on 01 September, 2012, 03:41:46 pm
Oh, and impress on her that she mustn't ever leave opened tins of tuna in a communal fridge because they make everything stink. Tupperware ftw!

Yuck. I once made a cake using butter that had been exposed to a pot of opened pesto in the shared fridge. OMG  :sick:
Totally inedible
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Tim Hall on 01 September, 2012, 06:32:09 pm
Based on when I were a lad when the room had 2 x 13A sockets and 1 x 2A, we sent The Boy with, inter alia, a load of 4 way trailing sockets. His cell at Bath had something like 12 13A sockets.  I boggled.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 01 September, 2012, 06:44:48 pm
If you did the sending a recipe a week/month thing one thing you could include is "how to make cheap punch" we did that a lot as students :)

I remember doing that for a party, using a small dustbin that we found in a cupboard somewhere, and scrubbed clean.

It was a mixture of cider, fruit juice, wine, some chopped up fruit, and anything else that seemed like a good idea, as I recall. ;D

The cheap wine of that era was pretty foul compared to nowadays, but fruit juice will do a lot to swamp out bad flavour!


Ultimately, a lot is going to come down to learning by mistake, which is what most of us do.  You can try and think of everything, but as people have listed above, many things will be unnecessary, and stuff which you think will be unnecessary may be needed!

The best bet is for stuff that is useful in emergencies, and which isn't likely to be available when it's needed, like a small first aid kit (with pain relief aka hangover cure!), stitching set, small mechanical repair kit (as mentioned pliers, screwdrivers, cutters, adjustable spanner), assorted herbs and spices.  A small number of fuses (to suit anything she's taking with her, like laptop power supplies) could be a good idea.

That's the sort of unobvious stuff that lots of people won't remember, and which could gain her serious kudos when she comes to the rescue. ;D

(Minimal knowledge on how to use it, is also likely to be a good idea, but harder to provide in a convenient instant form).
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: jane on 02 September, 2012, 11:17:04 am
My daughter took very little. She had a room in hall and as we have no car, had to go by train to Glasgow.  She took:
  bike
  laptop
  bag of clothes
  ipod
  mobile phone with credit
  toolkit
  2 good locks
  railcard
  £100

Despite the 2 good locks, she managed to get her bike (old black Lincoln Imp- built up as a gold and black fixie) nicked within the year- I think it looked a bit too bling, really, although in monetary terms, was not worth that much. I fixed it up for her with lots of begged, borrowed and otherwise legally, but cheaply, acquired stuff.
All the equipment that she needed, household or otherwise she bought once in Glasgow.  The hall of residence was right behind a Tesco metro and she (and many other students plus local homeless) fed herself out of their bins (the food they threw out was double sealed in plastic bags and perfectly edible) for quite a while, until they padlocked them.  So, I guess this will not be an option now. 
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 02 September, 2012, 11:33:08 am
... The hall of residence was right behind a Tesco metro and she (and many other students plus local homeless) fed herself out of their bins (the food they threw out was double sealed in plastic bags and perfectly edible) for quite a while, until they padlocked them.  So, I guess this will not be an option now.

Time to learn how to lock-pick!

(or use a Padlock Shim (http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Padlock-Shim)).

That's probably as legal as removing the food from the bins anyway.  Strictly speaking I believe it's theft, although Tescos is unlikely to care enough to prosecute.  If you use a shim or pick the lock, you're not damaging the padlock, which could make you liable to a charge of criminal damage.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: jane on 02 September, 2012, 11:50:58 am
I believe you are right. Tim, they were committing theft.  How crazy that deliberately wasting perfectly good food within sight of poor and hungry people is not a crime, but taking and eating that food is illegal.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 02 September, 2012, 11:54:27 am
I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again. When I was a teenager I had a part-time job in a Co-op supermarket. Food which was too damaged to sell, even at a reduced price, was stacked in the back warehouse ready to go into THE COMPACTOR. One guy was sacked for eating one chocolate from a box which was destined for THE COMPACTOR - they said it was theft.  ::-)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 02 September, 2012, 12:07:42 pm
Whilst it's strictly speaking theft, I would think a court would impose little in the way of a punishment, since there is no monetary loss to the company (and arguably you've saved them money), and the basis for that theft is morally not unreasonable.

A court could be convinced that the reason for the destruction (and locks where used) is to minimise the risk of food poisoning, so that dissuading people from this action is for the better good, but I doubt Tescos would put that much effort into it.  Hence imposing a more serious punishment might be sensible, but it's probably easier for them to simply use better security measures, and hence make it too much effort to obviate those mechanisms, rather than deal with the cost, and bad PR, of a court case.

It's come up more often historically, where journalists and similar, have been searching through a celebrities bins for information that can be used maliciously or salaciously (also know as TrashInt in intelligence collecting terms!)

Sacking someone over it, would likely be considered excessive, so if you had a union, or took the company to a tribunal over it, I doubt they'd get away with it.  Unless the company has some stronger basis for that action, it's more likely they either wanted to get rid of someone they considered to be a troublemaker, or the manager was an arsehole.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Jaded on 02 September, 2012, 12:28:36 pm
Don't think it is about food poisoning, but about removing the attractiveness of putting good merchandise out by the bins for collection later. A well known ruse.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mcshroom on 02 September, 2012, 12:39:35 pm
Don't think it is about food poisoning, but about removing the attractiveness of putting good merchandise out by the bins for collection later. A well known ruse.

This was the reason at KFC when I worked there. They also had a maximum limit on how much food could be left over, otherwise the cooks would* be charged at the retail price for everything over and above that to stop people cooking too much and taking it home.

*Theoretically, it never happened while I was there. One guy got it wrong once but the manager decided to ignore that rule
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Soaplady on 02 September, 2012, 01:06:50 pm
Another question...

Son is off to uni soon (waah!! and sometimes yay!!) Will he need a printer in his room to go with his laptop or am I just being old-fashioned?

All the other suggestions have been very helpful here too - thanks.

Sara
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mcshroom on 02 September, 2012, 01:10:48 pm
I would say yes, as even if he has university printing services it's good to have your own printer available on deadline day for that one lecturer who won't accept email submission :)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: jane on 02 September, 2012, 01:45:10 pm
If she can get herself diagnosed dyspraxic, she might get one given to her.
My daughter was diagnosed such last year and received a package of resources to help her with her condition, including an apple laptop and printer with a range of  software to help her with her condition.  Very useful.
   This may well not be relevant to everyone, I accept, but it was interesting to me, as a teacher, to find out that at uni (in Scotland, anyway, I am not sure about the rest of the UK)  there are similar systems in place for diagnosing special needs as in mainstream schooling.  My daughter had gone through all her statutory schooling and sixth form with no one (me included, to my eternal shame) picking up that she had a specific difficulty, in part, because she has a very high IQ so was able to develop coping strategies which meant she achievd all the academic targets (in fact exceeded them).  Apart from her total uselessness at any kind of team sport, communal playground games, terrible clumsiness, inability to climb out of  swimming pool and learn any other stroke than backstroke (although she was terrific at this and passed her mile swim test before going to secondary school, )taking ages to learn to ride a bike and despite living with me and being forced to ride everywhere at a very young age, never learning to corner properly or descend, or off road.  All these things (plus many more, use of cutlery, handwriting etc etc) should probably have given us all some clue- but she was just labelled a bit odd and eccentric by teachers, who didn't care because she was bright, and a stupid useless geek by most other children (not all, but you know the ones I mean)
      Not until A levels did it cause any real problems for her, but to cut a long story short, she took a completely different direction educationally, got into Glasgow school Of Art and by second year was getting very stressed about completing work on time.  Her tutor was puzzled as she worked extremely hard and he could see no reason for it,  but after several chats and observations referred her to a counsellor, who decided she needed to see an Educational Psychologist.  After lots of testing, hey presto, she was declared dyspraxic.  And the college has really tried to help her with this, as much as they can.
   I digress to tell this story because I don't think many people know that these kind of services exist at uni- I certainly didn't and I'm a teacher.  I should point out that one of the reasons she was referred was because she was a very hard worker, and the work she did produce was excellent, yet she struggled to complete work on time and became severely emotional and stressed- this was why her tutor referred her.  Not just because she didn't get her work done , being too busy living the student life.  There has to be a real problem.  But if there is, help is there.  Make sure your child knows that if they re struggling, support is there.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Clare on 02 September, 2012, 01:47:43 pm
Depends what he's studying, if it's anything requiring a portfolio submission he'll need to use uni printing services anyway unless you want to buy him an A1 printer! Having said that, yes a cheap A4 printer would be useful.

Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 02 September, 2012, 02:12:47 pm
The trouble with cheap inkjets, is that the ink ends up costing a lot, and that's why the printers are often very cheap, because as far as the manufacturer is concerned, it's a loss leader to encourage purchase of the ink.

I'd go for a small cheap laser printer if possible.  The toner will last a long time, so probably won't need to be replaced in a year of use, and it won't dry out when left unused, which is what always happens to me with cheap inkjets.  I avoid using them, because of the running costs, and then find I have to use up a load of the ink to clear the nozzles and get the printer to work at all (if it would).  A laser printer will mostly just sit their happily.  It's no good for colour, but for a lot of work, that won't be an issue anyway (colour laser printers are another issue, some of them are cheaper than a replacement set of toner cartridges!)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Clare on 02 September, 2012, 02:25:37 pm
I was thinking of a laser printer, I'd forgotten the horror of cheap inkjets!

Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 02 September, 2012, 02:38:32 pm
When I was a student, printers weren't commonly available.  Since I had an account on the Vaxen, I could use the computer centre's line printers.  At that time they only charged for use of the one laser printer that the computer centre had installed.  To use the laser printer, you really had to use DSR (Digital Standard Runoff), that was complicated and easy to get things wrong even with the line printers.  The laser printer was (iirc) 10p a sheet, which is probably equivalent to something like 50p to £1 in today's money.  I couldn't afford that sort of money for my final year project, so just used the line printer and guillotined off the perforations and feed holes!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 02 September, 2012, 02:51:10 pm
UKC was pretty good with public laser printers, though if you wanted one in a hurry you could guarantee that it was social sciences deadline week and the cartridge monkey hadn't visited yet.

The Computer Science department had a couple of its own lasers (one colour) that their students could use for a lower number of print credits than the public printers.  They also had a good old-fashioned lineprinter that was free of charge.  Rumour had it that you'd get higher marks on the Operating Systems module's token essay if you wrote it in vi and handed it in on wide carriage lined paper with the feed holes still attached.


However, as I lived off campus, having my own printer meant a couple of extra hours in bed on hand-in days.  After the usual pains of Epson inkjets, I happened across a job lot of previously-owned workhorse laser printers cluttering up the Local Computer Shop one day.  50 quid and a taxi ride home solved our household's (and the LGBT society's) printing needs for the next three years (minus a couple of presentations which were farmed out to the department's colour laser on our abundance of spare printer credits).  No toner cartridge required.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mcshroom on 02 September, 2012, 04:33:49 pm
Then there was the 24 23 hr computing centre at the Mappin Building in Sheffield which was shut for cleaning from 8-9am each day (just before many hand in deadlines)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: hellymedic on 02 September, 2012, 05:09:16 pm
Then there was the 24 23 hr computing centre at the Mappin Building in Sheffield which was shut for cleaning from 8-9am each day (just before many hand in deadlines)

Oh Yes, I remember it well...
Had geeky medic boyfriend who did much spare time computing.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Jasmine on 02 September, 2012, 05:37:40 pm
SNIPITY SNIP

   I digress to tell this story because I don't think many people know that these kind of services exist at uni- I certainly didn't and I'm a teacher.  I should point out that one of the reasons she was referred was because she was a very hard worker, and the work she did produce was excellent, yet she struggled to complete work on time and became severely emotional and stressed- this was why her tutor referred her.  Not just because she didn't get her work done , being too busy living the student life.  There has to be a real problem.  But if there is, help is there.  Make sure your child knows that if they re struggling, support is there.

I would encourage any student going to university to acquaint themselves with the student support services available.  Even if they don't think they need access to anything right now, it's good to know what can be available when things go wrong.  Just a cursory glance at what is available can prevent panic at the time: housing support, money support, careers & jobs, tutors & academic support, disability services, residency support within halls, student union, listening services, counselling etc.  Universities are generally now keen on developing these services as there's pressure to 'enhance the student experience' & also to discourage students from dropping out.

You definitely don't need to have 'problems' to access these services.  It's worth getting housing support to look at housing contracts for next year when you get to that point, just to be sure you're not getting screwed.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 02 September, 2012, 06:17:37 pm
As barakta's away for a couple of days, I should probably point out that if they do have a disability (which probably includes things that you might not think of as a disability, like dyslexia, dyspraxia, mild visual and hearing impairments and so on which may not have been a problem in a school environment, but could affect their work at university) then the best thing to do is contact the university's disability support service *now*.  Things like applying for funding through DSA and obtaining medical evidence can take time and paperwork, and the sooner the process is started, the sooner support will be in place.  The disability officer will be able to help you through the process.

Even if it's something seemingly trivial like well-controlled diabetes, it's worth disclosing, as those sort of conditions have a habit of becoming a problem in exam season.  If they've already got you on file, it's one thing less to worry about when things get difficult.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Fab Foodie on 02 September, 2012, 08:55:11 pm
jane, Jasmine, Kim, thanks, yes she has Dyslexia and mild Dyspraxia and has filled in the related applications for this, but good points about contacting the Disability service and support services ASAP.  Thanks!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: a lower gear on 02 September, 2012, 10:54:34 pm
Loads of pertinent suggestions upthread. I can only add:

* decent kitchen knife plus a sharpener for it. Hall / shared house knifes are usually very poor. Keep it in her room whenever not actually in use or it'll soon disappear.

Suggest to her that she stores food in hall fridge in forms that cannot be immediately eaten / microwaved as the thieving bast*rds with munchies after the pub target the easily eaten / reheated, whereas raw or only partly prepared food is too much hassle for them. I soon learnt they'd toast all the pre-sliced bread but couldn't be bothered cutting unsliced bread (unless it was the only bread left in the communal kitchen), especialy if stored in an opaque poly bag that somewhat disguised what it was. 
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 02 September, 2012, 11:40:11 pm
Failing that, cultivate a reputation as a chemistry/biology/pharmacology student, and store food in lab containers.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 02 September, 2012, 11:44:07 pm
... Suggest to her that she stores food in hall fridge in forms that cannot be immediately eaten ...

One of my flat mates, when I lived on campus (some of the "Halls" were actually comprised of 6 and 12 person houses and flats), took to putting blue food colouring in his milk, to dissuade people from borrowing it!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Butterfly on 03 September, 2012, 09:59:27 am
Toasted sandwich maker.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: hellymedic on 03 September, 2012, 10:34:51 am
Suggest a couple of mouseproof longlife emergency meals she keeps in her room for use in case of flu and theft.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 03 September, 2012, 10:44:22 am
Toasted sandwich maker - ah, yes, the perfect tool for emptying halls of residence . . .  No matter how careful you are, sometime, you will burn stuff and set off smoke alarm.


I would add to the list:

Sewing kit - one of those little ones on card. Amazingly useful - cause when a button falls off, you can reattach it.

Leatherman or similar. Molishing, for the purposes of. Some swiss army knives are just as useful - if you are sending pliers with her, then a small SAK is good. The tweezers and scissors get used a lot when away from home.

Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 03 September, 2012, 11:35:47 am
Sewing kit - one of those little ones on card. Amazingly useful - cause when a button falls off, you can reattach it.

The ones you occasionally get in hotel rooms are great for this purpose, although it seems to be rarer and rarer to find them.  Some bugger must be nicking them all. ;D
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 03 September, 2012, 12:16:27 pm
Failing that, some needles, pins, threads on sewing machine bobbins and if you can find them, one of those foldy pairs of scissors will fit nicely in a GameBoy game cartridge box...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: PaulR on 03 September, 2012, 12:28:52 pm
Hmm, two of our three offspring are springing off to uni this month.  I reckon they'll muddle through OK and they'll quickly work things out - I say this in the light of my own survival when I went to France after leaving school and, despite being shy, impractical and scared, managed to survive six months out there. 

I've bought laptops (under strict instructions from Mrs R not to fob them off with cheapo refurbs or second hand stuff) and son #1 now has a d lock, pump, tyre levers and lights to go on the bike which will, I am convinced, be nicked within a week of arriving in Manchester.  Daughter seems to think her room will be too small for the full-sized xylophone we bought her.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Thing2 on 04 September, 2012, 01:11:09 am
... Suggest to her that she stores food in hall fridge in forms that cannot be immediately eaten ...

One of my flat mates, when I lived on campus (some of the "Halls" were actually comprised of 6 and 12 person houses and flats), took to putting blue food colouring in his milk, to dissuade people from borrowing it!

My friend in halls did this. He shared a kitchen with a bunch of medics, and it was the only method he found to stop them drinking his milk. It did make tea a strange colour though!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: hellymedic on 05 September, 2012, 03:07:12 pm
http://youtu.be/Q0UOYY_tgL0
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: PaulR on 17 September, 2012, 12:16:31 pm
Son #1 is now a student.  We took him up to Manchester at the weekend with a car full of stuff, drove back with it very empty.  It feels quite odd but I'm pretty sure he'll have a great time and we'll get used to the relative quietness at home (we still have a daughter at home who plays percussion and piano and a younger son who plays organ, trumpet and piano and also sings, so there's still some background noise).

One of the highlights was putting his rather fancy lightweight steel road bike (a Dolan-built Cougar) in a secure-looking shed full of sheffield stands.  As he locked it up with a heavy shackle lock and a cable, I was greatly reassured to see the range of other bikes there, very few of them properly secure.  They included a beautiful metallic cherry to silver fade Ribble in 531c tubing with a pair of Shamals on it.  Penniless student oafs, eh?
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 17 September, 2012, 12:23:12 pm
The students reappeared over the weekend.  There won't be any room to park until christmas, and the drunken zombie noises began in earnest at about 6pm last night.

I was mildly amused to note an Ocado van doing its thing for the house across the road.  No doubt the penniless student oafs were stocking up on a term's worth of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: L CC on 17 September, 2012, 12:39:43 pm
Is Warwick backwards?
No1Son doesn't go for another fortnight...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 17 September, 2012, 01:10:55 pm
Term doesn't start until next week, but these are going to be mostly second and third year students wanting to get a head start on the drinking during freshers week.

Warwick uni does seem to exist in its own little bubble, though.  They still haven't worked out that they're actually in Coventry, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were a bit out of sync in the fourth dimension, too.   :)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: dasmoth on 17 September, 2012, 01:15:40 pm
Warwick uni does seem to exist in its own little bubble, though.  They still haven't worked out that they're actually in Coventry, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were a bit out of sync in the fourth dimension, too.   :)

I don't think I've ever come across an incident of them actually claiming to have anything to do with Warwick.  It seems to be more a matter of not wanting to be associated with Coventry.  Do you really blame them?

(I think I may have heard on or two of them claiming it's really in Leamington Spa.  A check of the map doesn't really support that hypothesis, either).
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 17 September, 2012, 01:38:04 pm
No, I suppose that's understandable.

My main issue with Warwick is that when I attended an interview/open day thingy, the EE department tried to impress us by having been on Channel 5 news, with a funky bit of silicon that could detect the difference between lager and bitter using smell.  Clever chemistry, and the beer angle's always popular with undergrads, but they hadn't got the memo that Channel 5 was not and never has been cool.

This is still much better than the institution not a million miles away from where I'm sitting, who tried to impress us by taking photos of us using a standard commercial digital camera.  This was in the days when such things were rare, but not unheard of:  Our school had one; it was crap.  The strategy would have been understandable if they didn't have a research group that had just completed a working prototype of a self-driving car (it was the late 90s, so it took a boot full of computers to drive down a well-painted motorway without crashing into anything, but that was still pretty damn awesome).
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 17 September, 2012, 03:45:20 pm
I delivered my son to Plymouth on Wednesday with all his stuff. I know he's still alive because every day he gets tagged in his new friend's photos on Facebook. So far he has been captured:

The last post on his wall asked him if he is still alive.
I am still waiting for a reply to thursday's text message asking him for his postal address!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 17 September, 2012, 04:53:50 pm
What, no school disco?
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Wowbagger on 17 September, 2012, 04:58:58 pm
Term doesn't start until next week, but these are going to be mostly second and third year students wanting to get a head start on the drinking during freshers week.

Warwick uni does seem to exist in its own little bubble, though.  They still haven't worked out that they're actually in Coventry, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were a bit out of sync in the fourth dimension, too.   :)

Warwick Uni seems to have close links with Leamington Spa. My daughter, who studied there between 1999 and 2002, spent two years in interesting student houses in Leamington. Her first year was in Halls in Warwick.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: CAMRAMan on 17 September, 2012, 05:35:31 pm
Warwick is closest to Kenilworth, but probably just about qualifies as being in Coventry! Though Google Maps don't seem to show political boundaries. We in Warwick escape the students cos the buses are crap, but Leamington bustles with them.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Wowbagger on 17 September, 2012, 05:39:26 pm
Is Warwick backwards?
No1Son doesn't go for another fortnight...

I don't know what you mean by backwards, fboab.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: barakta on 17 September, 2012, 09:45:28 pm
Feline, looks like he's having a great time!  Awesome.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Canardly on 17 September, 2012, 09:59:37 pm
Warwick is somewhat good. Inscription carved into science lecture room trestle.....'dont do maths' tickled me pink.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Wowbagger on 17 September, 2012, 10:08:37 pm
When my daughter went, Warwick was her second choice. Cambridge was first. She made what was probably a tactical error of applying to Pembroke College, which admits a tiny number of history students every year. She was very pleased with her place in Warwick, which apparently has the reputation as second only to Cambridge for history amongst British Unis. While she was there, the Uni boasted that on some international league table it was 5th in the world for History.

I believe Warwick also has a good reputation for maths. ISTR that one of her chess-playing acquaintances Nicholas Pert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Pert) studied maths there. In fact, the link confirms it.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: L CC on 17 September, 2012, 10:14:08 pm
I believe Warwick also has a good reputation for maths.

Indeed. That's why he's headed there. He toyed with Cambridge/Kings/Imperial but decided a) Cambridge was too much like hard work and b) he didn't fancy London- too expensive.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Fab Foodie on 17 September, 2012, 10:17:50 pm
I delivered my son to Plymouth on Wednesday with all his stuff. I know he's still alive because every day he gets tagged in his new friend's photos on Facebook. So far he has been captured:
  • swimming in the sea (brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
  • at some kind of a white T-shirt party where their T-shirts gained more and more graphiti as the night went on (and then they were writing on each others stomachs with sharpies)
  • having a pillow fight on wheelie chairs in their kitchen area and corridor
  • lying face down on the pavement somewhere
  • Lying on the draining board in the kitchen
  • at some kind of party where they are all wearing identical blue T-shirts
  • teaching his new roomie called Charlotte to make pancakes

The last post on his wall asked him if he is still alive.
I am still waiting for a reply to thursday's text message asking him for his postal address!

Most Excellent!
Drop #1 daughter in Falmouth on Friday ... the countdown begins!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 18 September, 2012, 08:15:57 am
That's why he's headed there. He toyed with Cambridge/Kings/Imperial but decided a) Cambridge was too much like hard work and b) he didn't fancy London- too expensive.

Ah, but our students don't start for around a week, so he got that wrong. :)
(Strictly speaking they start on Saturday, which I find really bizarre, because all my terms started on a Monday).

I'm trying to enjoy the peace and quiet, and relative availability of bike parking.

It'll take a while for the bike parking to get busier, they'll need their passes enabled for access to it.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Wowbagger on 18 September, 2012, 08:17:38 am
That's why he's headed there. He toyed with Cambridge/Kings/Imperial but decided a) Cambridge was too much like hard work and b) he didn't fancy London- too expensive.

Ah, but our students don't start for at least a week, so he got that wrong. :)

I'm trying to enjoy the peace and quiet, and relative availability of bike parking.

It'll take a while for the bike parking to get busier, they'll need their passes enabled for access to it.

From memory Warwick doesn't either. ISTR that it was almost into October before I found myself driving along the country lane known as the M45.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: L CC on 18 September, 2012, 08:27:10 am
That's why he's headed there. He toyed with Cambridge/Kings/Imperial but decided a) Cambridge was too much like hard work and b) he didn't fancy London- too expensive.

Ah, but our students don't start for at least a week, so he got that wrong. :)

I'm trying to enjoy the peace and quiet, and relative availability of bike parking.

It'll take a while for the bike parking to get busier, they'll need their passes enabled for access to it.

From memory Warwick doesn't either. ISTR that it was almost into October before I found myself driving along the country lane known as the M45.
Which is where we started.
He's booked the taxi for 29th September.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Wowbagger on 18 September, 2012, 08:32:01 am
Was that what your "backwards" comment referred to?
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 18 September, 2012, 09:24:32 am
Ah, my bad, there are too many people in this threading getting their homes back emptying their nests, I lost track of who was leaving when.

I'm not sure how much more expensive living in London is, although there is certainly a much easier capability to spend money.  I rarely talk to undergraduates about how broke they are, but I suspect that Imperial has more than it's fair share of well heeled students, and clearly has quite a lot of overseas students.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: madcow on 18 September, 2012, 09:45:20 am
If you are buying a laptop or Mac for offspring going to uni it is about the only time I would recommend shelling out on a 3 year warranty/ return /repair/ accidental damage agreement.
Plus as others have said get them to back up  work every day onto an external HDD.
 
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 18 September, 2012, 09:48:49 am
... plus possibly theft insurance, and a Kensington (type) lock.

Laptops seem to be a major theft item at Universities, it's the only thing we've ever had stolen from our Lab, although slightly bizarrely, they didn't take the power supplies.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mcshroom on 18 September, 2012, 09:51:51 am
Ah, my bad, there are too many people in this threading getting their homes back emptying their nests, I lost track of who was leaving when.

I'm not sure how much more expensive living in London is, although there is certainly a much easier capability to spend money.  I rarely talk to undergraduates about how broke they are, but I suspect that Imperial has more than it's fair share of well heeled students, and clearly has quite a lot of overseas students.

From Directgov's student finance pages: -

Maximum Maintenance Loan rates for full-time students

I'd guess that the numbers are assessed on the relative living costs
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: L CC on 18 September, 2012, 10:11:50 am
Ah, my bad, there are too many people in this threading getting their homes back emptying their nests, I lost track of who was leaving when.

I'm not sure how much more expensive living in London is, although there is certainly a much easier capability to spend money.  I rarely talk to undergraduates about how broke they are, but I suspect that Imperial has more than it's fair share of well heeled students, and clearly has quite a lot of overseas students.

From Directgov's student finance pages: -

Maximum Maintenance Loan rates for full-time students
  • You live away from home and study outside London  £5500
  • You live away from home and study in London  £7675

I'd guess that the numbers are assessed on the relative living costs

Yes. No1Son is grant maintained and scholarship & bursary material- (what a combo, dirt poor & a brainbox) and he'd end up with bigger debt from studying in London. He wasn't keen, as a lifetime working in the groves of academe doing Hard Sums isn't exactly renowned for generating income.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 18 September, 2012, 10:49:41 am
If you are buying a laptop or Mac for offspring going to uni it is about the only time I would recommend shelling out on a 3 year warranty/ return /repair/ accidental damage agreement.
Plus as others have said get them to back up  work every day onto an external HDD.

Sounds excellent advice - but maybe use dropbox or similar?
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: David Martin on 21 September, 2012, 02:13:45 pm
Yes, all the students are back. What to take?
What you stand up in.
Stuff to keep you occupied and allow you to travel.
Then work out what it is you really need and sort it out the following weekend.

..d
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 21 September, 2012, 06:44:50 pm
Yes, all the students are back. What to take?
What you stand up in.
Stuff to keep you occupied and allow you to travel.
Then work out what it is you really need and sort it out the following weekend.

..d

Had I done that with my son he would have had no bedding, no towel and no kitchenware to prepare and eat food with!
He won't be coming home until Christmas, so I felt it was important to help him get his essential stuff and leave him there safe in the knowledge he has what he needs to survive. He seems to think the most useful life skill he has is making pancakes, and it has certainly made him popular with his roomies  :D
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Clare on 21 September, 2012, 07:06:42 pm
Yes, all the students are back. What to take?
What you stand up in.
Stuff to keep you occupied and allow you to travel.
Then work out what it is you really need and sort it out the following weekend.

..d

If some of our little dears are anything to go by you'd be mighty stinky by the next weekend with one set of clothes and no wash kit!

Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: peliroja on 22 September, 2012, 08:07:00 am
A budgeting app. I use mine every day to track expenditure on our tour and I wish I'd had one when I was a student!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 22 September, 2012, 09:38:00 pm
I really dread to think what Chris is up to at Uni. The only info I have is based on his friend's Facebook taggings.
WTF is going on here?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/feistyfeline/weirdchris_zps944be761.jpg)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Fab Foodie on 22 September, 2012, 09:39:59 pm
I really dread to think what Chris is up to at Uni. The only info I have is based on his friend's Facebook taggings.
WTF is going on here?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/feistyfeline/weirdchris_zps944be761.jpg)
... just like his mother ....
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Fab Foodie on 22 September, 2012, 09:44:17 pm
Well, she's gone, deposited yesterday into the care of University College Falmouth.  Fab halls, great room and she's as fully equiped as she can be I reckon (thanks all).  Now it's up to her.  Only snag ... she has no phone signal from her room  ::-).
One down, 2 to go!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: hellymedic on 22 September, 2012, 09:51:04 pm
Get her to find out if any other network's phones get signal in her room; it's unlikely to be dead for them all...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 22 September, 2012, 09:52:25 pm
Chris has an ethernet port in his room, and is using it to Skype people on his laptop. Not sure which people, I am not one of them  :facepalm:
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: hellymedic on 22 September, 2012, 09:58:10 pm
Chris has an ethernet port in his room, and is using it to Skype people on his laptop. Not sure which people, I am not one of them  :facepalm:

How often did you contact your parents when you went to university?

Previous generations wrote letters once per week...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 22 September, 2012, 10:03:36 pm
Chris has an ethernet port in his room, and is using it to Skype people on his laptop. Not sure which people, I am not one of them  :facepalm:

How often did you contact your parents when you went to university?

Previous generations wrote letters once per week...

When I left home for Uni I never looked back, but then I didn't have a good relationship with my parents and still don't. I see them once or twice a year if I have to (they want to visit their grandkids), and need to be drunk throughout their visit to survive it. My son and I do get on well, but he seems to have fallen into a black hole since getting to Uni! I just hope he hasn't forgotten to join the cycling club, he was very keep on that idea when I left him there.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 22 September, 2012, 10:10:10 pm
Looks like he is up to no good again tonight  :o :o :o
The new word seems to be 'mortal'  :facepalm:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/feistyfeline/chrisdrinkingbinge_zpsa0593727.jpg)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feanor on 22 September, 2012, 10:14:13 pm
Chris has an ethernet port in his room, and is using it to Skype people on his laptop. Not sure which people, I am not one of them  :facepalm:

How often did you contact your parents when you went to university?

Previous generations wrote letters once per week...

When I left home for Uni I never looked back, but then I didn't have a good relationship with my parents and still don't. I see them once or twice a year if I have to (they want to visit their grandkids), and need to be drunk throughout their visit to survive it.

That's pretty much my situation too.

Almost everyone in my local school in Aberdeenshire went to Aberdeen Uni.
I had a need to move further away, and went to Edinburgh.
It was the best thing I ever did.
My subsequent contacts were at the end-of-term breaks, which was plenty enough at the time.

In later life, things became easier; particularly when grandbrats arrived.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 September, 2012, 10:36:14 pm
Looks like he is up to no good again tonight  :o :o :o
The new word seems to be 'mortal'  :facepalm:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/feistyfeline/chrisdrinkingbinge_zpsa0593727.jpg)
There's an awful lot to be said for having grown up before the internet...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 22 September, 2012, 10:42:54 pm
There's an awful lot to be said for having grown up before the internet...

Or at least before people's parents discovered it.

In my day, parents used the internet for email and downloading papers on Medline.  None of this seeing what their children were doing on friendface stuff.  It's unnatural.

As for frequency of calls, ACC Telecom took care of that problem.  I think they had a dual-channel ISDN for the whole of Stoke Bishop.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 September, 2012, 11:14:13 pm
We had payphones at the end of each corridor. Remember the 10p coin? On one occasion I was standing there talking to my mum or whoever, with my back turned to the corridor, and when I turned round my corridor-mates had carried all the furniture from my room into the main part of the corridor. Happy days!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Wowbagger on 22 September, 2012, 11:25:08 pm
My nom d'internet dates from Dez's time at Swansea Uni (late 1990s), where their "talker" was based largely on the Hitch-hiker's Guide.

As the only parental unit to have a) sufficient computer knowledge and b) a reliable internet connection at home I participated in this "talker". Because I was much, much older than anyone else on there, my user name became obvious.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 22 September, 2012, 11:54:35 pm
That's cool.  Our talker wasn't[1] based on the novels of Mercedes Lackey.  Which I've never actually read - someone warned me soon after joining not to bother.

I was at the time in a long-distance relationship with a stereotypical arts student, who I educated in the murky ways of Solaris and operating Windows NT without a functioning mouse.  This provided unlimited telnet access on the computers too weird or shonky to be of interest to the other students, and was a far more reliable means of communication than negotiating a voice call with a payphone-per-corridor on one end and ACC Telecom on the other.

My parents got the odd email, which they checked about once per term.


[1] For copyright reasons.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Wowbagger on 23 September, 2012, 08:07:38 pm
My telephoning form College was from a small maths room which, for some unknown reason, was not kept locked.

In there, there resided a computer terminal. This communicated with a mainframe somewhere (Preston Poly, I think) by means of someone dialling a number and resting the receiver in a specially designed receiver rest so that the computer terminal could speak to its Lord and Master all of 15 miles away (we were in Poulton-le-Fylde).

Obviously, the telephone was a fully functional one which did not require the insertion of coins to make it work.

That maths room was also the first place I found an electronic calculator. It was about the size of a typewriter, it plugged into the mains, its display was dependent upon glowing wires and it was not clever enough to do square roots. I thought it was absolutely amazing, but this was about 1974.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 23 September, 2012, 08:17:02 pm
That maths room was also the first place I found an electronic calculator. It was about the size of a typewriter, it plugged into the mains, its display was dependent upon glowing wires and it was not clever enough to do square roots. I thought it was absolutely amazing, but this was about 1974.

When I was there, the main lecture theatre in UKC's maths department had good old fashioned sturdy wooden benches, with an abundance of mains sockets, of the type you'd expect to find in a science or engineering lab.  On asking around, these turned out to have been installed at the time of construction (I assume mid 70s, on account of the underwhelming concrete architecture) in anticipation of the calculators.  That architects failed to anticipate the microchip revolution, I can forgive.  What baffled me was the idea that maths students would actually use calculators.

Given that laptops are now both portable and affordable, the sockets are probably getting used these days.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 23 September, 2012, 08:28:15 pm
That maths room was also the first place I found an electronic calculator. It was about the size of a typewriter, it plugged into the mains, its display was dependent upon glowing wires and it was not clever enough to do square roots. I thought it was absolutely amazing, but this was about 1974.
I've seen an episode of an early 70s sitcom with Ronnie Barker (I think) which revolved around him waiting for delivery of an electronic calculator like that, and nobody recognising it when it arrived.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 24 September, 2012, 08:39:52 am
That's cool.  Our talker wasn't[1] based on the novels of Mercedes Lackey.  Which I've never actually read - someone warned me soon after joining not to bother.

She's written one good book, about someone with autism. Speed of Dark.
I lent my copy to someone.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: juliet on 24 September, 2012, 09:35:53 am
I phoned my parents,with whom I have a good relationship, about weekly when at uni (late 90s, initially payphones, then acquired cheap parent-funded mobile with minimal credit towards end of course). Since then they have mastered email & more recently text. (and now L exists, mum invites herself to visit much more often, bless her :D)

Have sleeping 6 mth old on my lap at this moment; am gently boggling at the notion that eventually he too will be 18 & leaving home for uni or wherever & utilising new & strange slang on the new equivalent of the facebooks.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Jacomus on 24 September, 2012, 09:49:37 am
Looks like he is up to no good again tonight  :o :o :o
The new word seems to be 'mortal'  :facepalm:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/feistyfeline/chrisdrinkingbinge_zpsa0593727.jpg)

Ye gods! What happened to just plain drinking BEER until you mysteriously wake up the next day, hopefully in your own bed?!

Whilst I never enjoyed drinking those kind of things*, I am familiar with all of them.

Parents, consider looking away now!

*Though I did drink Kryptonites, or 'Erasers' as we named them, a fair few times - for cheapness because it cost £3 to make up a glass of it on Thursday nights.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 24 September, 2012, 10:05:45 am
Ye gods! What happened to just plain drinking BEER until you mysteriously wake up the next day, hopefully in your own bed?!
Surely some mistake?  :D
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Jacomus on 24 September, 2012, 10:16:32 am
Ye gods! What happened to just plain drinking BEER until you mysteriously wake up the next day, hopefully in your own bed?!
Surely some mistake?  :D

Not at all :P You never want to mysteriously awake in someone else's bed, you want that to be intentional! ;)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 25 September, 2012, 04:29:24 pm
Thanks for the translation Jacomus  ;D

It may go some way to explaining this mornings latest facebook tagging  :facepalm:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/feistyfeline/chrisonpavement.jpg)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 25 September, 2012, 04:42:35 pm
Either that or he's taking up audax...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 25 September, 2012, 04:49:31 pm
Either that or he's taking up audax...

I guess this experience could all be useful practice for sleeping in bus shelters. There may not be a handy duvet though!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Wowbagger on 25 September, 2012, 04:51:32 pm
I phoned my parents,with whom I have a good relationship, about weekly when at uni (late 90s, initially payphones, then acquired cheap parent-funded mobile with minimal credit towards end of course). Since then they have mastered email & more recently text. (and now L exists, mum invites herself to visit much more often, bless her :D)

Have sleeping 6 mth old on my lap at this moment; am gently boggling at the notion that eventually he too will be 18 & leaving home for uni or wherever & utilising new & strange slang on the new equivalent of the facebooks.

Make the most of it! An oft-repeated truism, but I wonder where the last 30 years have gone and what on earth I have done with them. I suppose having a number of offspring, half of whom I rarely see, all doing laudable things in various bits of SE England is achievement enough.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: rogerzilla on 25 September, 2012, 07:26:14 pm
I took my parents' old fridge.  I cannot recommend this highly enough.  Not only will you have your own secure stash of cold milk and beer, everyone on your hall floor will come and worship at the altar of Freon.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 25 September, 2012, 07:46:30 pm
I took my parents' old fridge.  I cannot recommend this highly enough.  Not only will you have your own secure stash of cold milk and beer, everyone on your hall floor will come and worship at the altar of Freon.

Yeahbut the cleaners will dob you in to the warden, who will sacrifice you at the altar of power factor.  Unless you've got dire beaties or something, in which case the university will buy you your own shiny new fridge.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: rogerzilla on 25 September, 2012, 08:10:27 pm
No-one ever complained about it  :smug:
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 25 September, 2012, 08:37:01 pm
Things have changed.  I think mine was the last generation of students where you could get away with a sneaky fridge by being on sufficiently good terms with the cleaners.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: David Martin on 25 September, 2012, 09:34:24 pm
Being at a London college (and unlike Dundee, the trend was to get as far away as posisble) following minor mishaps in my planned career path, my trip to college was along the lines of driving the car there, unloading, taking the car home and then cycling back to halls. Popped home (15 mile ride) most weekends, getting back into halls after hours on a Sunday night meant lobbing the bike over the fence and then following it.

Second year I stayed mostly at home after a flatshare fell through. Third year I wasn't there. I had discovered research over the summer, and the wonders of email on X25, Vaxen and other such things including a bulletin board known as UNACCESS which would log you out every 15 minutes. Found flat mates through that (not the best of ideas) and then spent the next year in Harrow working for a large Pharma company. Computer access was a 286 running kermit through a 1200/75 modem to the ULCC vax. Or the Z88 if I was feeling keen. This was 1989/90 and one of my housemates wrote the occasional tech review for a magazine so we had copies of Coherent to try out. A Xenix-like OS. Quite different to Windows 2 which I had on the 286 box with a black/orange BT screen.
Back to college and a different flat, this time in Queens Park. No dial up access from there but I was one of the few with an email account. At about this time JANET went internet instead of X25 PAD so email became so much easier. Had a single speed drop frame bike I used to cycle Queens Park to New Malden on via Richmond Park with my washing every weekend. Found my first computer virus in '91.

Ah, fun and games. AOL/Compuserve/Janet. Kermit became old hat by my final year. Amazing really what we managed to do with what we had.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 25 September, 2012, 10:27:40 pm
Things have changed.  I think mine was the last generation of students where you could get away with a sneaky fridge by being on sufficiently good terms with the cleaners.

I got away with keeping a hamster in my halls of residence room in first year. I managed this by not keeping Morrissey in a cage. He had his little house and litter tray in the bottom draw of my desk, which he accessed from a pile of books underneath. He used to have fun in the evenings climbing the spokes of my bike wheels, and up the curtains. He never actually mastered the technique of what to do at the top of anything, and always fell off trying to summit the mudguard, or in the case of the curtains fell from a great height onto my stomach in bed during the night. I once nearly lost him when he fell from the desk into the bin and I found him just in the nick of time the night before the cleaners came with tea bags on his head.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Jules on 29 September, 2012, 09:12:19 am
Finally - Term is starting at the "University of South Coventry but Warwick sounded nicer". Just got the daughter out of bed, the bicycle and a big lock are in the car. Just need to load 4 tonnes of food and the rest of her possessions and head up the M40.
Title: Re: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mr magnolia on 29 September, 2012, 10:14:33 am
Quote

Ye gods! What happened to just plain drinking BEER until you mysteriously wake up the next day, hopefully in your own bed?!


I strongly remember that the main point really was to try and wake up in someone else's bed.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 29 September, 2012, 12:55:34 pm
Term start todays at Imperial. I can't quite see the logic of actually starting at the weekend, when they don't need to be in College before Monday, but I presume there is some reason why they do this (maybe they get an extra couple of days funding from HEFCE?)

I'll have to attempt to get in earlyish before they turn up and nick all the moderately easy places to lock their bikes up, although it'll take a few weeks for the bike presence to peak, before it starts dropping off again, when they realise that whilst bringing their bike from home to University sounded like a good idea, once the weather gets cold, it's a lot easier to use the Tube!
Title: Re: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: rogerzilla on 29 September, 2012, 02:06:23 pm
I strongly remember that the main point really was to try and wake up in someone else's bed.
Unless it's the Coyote Ugly syndrome.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 29 September, 2012, 03:01:30 pm
I've just done the five minute walk to the nearest supermarket, bought some stuff, and walked back. I live in a very studenty area. It seems that the entrance requirements for Edinburgh University students does not include the ability to look where one is going.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Arch on 30 September, 2012, 01:56:09 pm
I've just done the five minute walk to the nearest supermarket, bought some stuff, and walked back. I live in a very studenty area. It seems that the entrance requirements for Edinburgh University students does not include the ability to look where one is going.

I'm not even convinced having a brain is a requirement any more, anywhere!

Certainly, literacy seems to be optional. or at least that specific part of literacy pertaining to reading the leaflet on what can be put in recycling boxes....

A colleague suggested the other day that as households of all male students seem to the worst at remembering to put their boxes out, we should instigate a drinking competition. We'll make note of the number of beer cans each week, and declare winners at the end of year. We'll specify the beers they can drink, so as to ensure ali cans, and not steel, since we get more money for ali.... ;)

Any pieces of pizza left in a box would automatically nullify that week's total of cans....
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: L CC on 30 September, 2012, 02:54:06 pm
Finally - Term is starting at the "University of South Coventry but Warwick sounded nicer". Just got the daughter out of bed, the bicycle and a big lock are in the car. Just need to load 4 tonnes of food and the rest of her possessions and head up the M40.
I doubt she'll ever meet No1Son- maths & art don't mix much, do they?

Quote from: text from fboab
missing you already!
Quote from: reply from No1Son
you loser

Bless.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: hellymedic on 30 September, 2012, 04:02:29 pm
Finally - Term is starting at the "University of South Coventry but Warwick sounded nicer". Just got the daughter out of bed, the bicycle and a big lock are in the car. Just need to load 4 tonnes of food and the rest of her possessions and head up the M40.
I doubt she'll ever meet No1Son- maths & art don't mix much, do they?

Quote from: text from fboab
missing you already!
Quote from: reply from No1Son
you loser

Bless.


I still wonder if my Mum had offspring #6 because she missed me after I went to university...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Jules on 30 September, 2012, 10:38:06 pm
Finally - Term is starting at the "University of South Coventry but Warwick sounded nicer". Just got the daughter out of bed, the bicycle and a big lock are in the car. Just need to load 4 tonnes of food and the rest of her possessions and head up the M40.
I doubt she'll ever meet No1Son- maths & art don't mix much, do they?


She is in a house that appears to hold quite a few new maths undergrads. Is he nice? Shall we try to engineer a romance? ;D

She's in Whitefields - about 30 seconds stagger from the bar and a similar distance from Costcutter - but a bit of a walk to where she's supposed to be working. Fortunately she has a bicycle!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Jules on 30 September, 2012, 10:45:01 pm
Term start todays at Imperial. I can't quite see the logic of actually starting at the weekend, when they don't need to be in College before Monday, but I presume there is some reason why they do this (maybe they get an extra couple of days funding from HEFCE?)


...and today it seems as some friends of ours from Hampshire dropped their daughter off there this morning (she's staying in some Catholic seminary just off Kensington High St that IC seem to have found as an additional hall of residence since my wife completed her Ph.D there) and realising that they passed the end of our road on the way in invited themselves over for lunch so we could all celebrate the loss of our daughters.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 30 September, 2012, 11:16:00 pm
... she's staying in some Catholic seminary just off Kensington High St that IC seem to have found as an additional hall of residence since my wife completed her Ph.D there ...

That sounds like Alban Hall, which is part of Heythrop College, originally a Jesuit college of Philosophy and Theology, but now part of the University of London (unlike Imperial).

That Hall is actually physically colocated with Heythrop College, and Imperial has some sort of arrangement to use a small number of their study bedrooms.  At £175 a week, it isn't that cheap (or at the top of the range, £250 a week, in some of the halls around Princes Gardens), but that does include some catering.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 01 October, 2012, 11:04:26 am
Quote from: text from fboab
missing you already!
Quote from: reply from No1Son
you loser

Bless.
The little buggers.

I found myself welling up when I received this "Dad, I miss your cooking."

(apparently bosnian food is fatty meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Salad and veg are cabbage)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: L CC on 01 October, 2012, 11:12:52 am
Finally - Term is starting at the "University of South Coventry but Warwick sounded nicer". Just got the daughter out of bed, the bicycle and a big lock are in the car. Just need to load 4 tonnes of food and the rest of her possessions and head up the M40.
I doubt she'll ever meet No1Son- maths & art don't mix much, do they?


She is in a house that appears to hold quite a few new maths undergrads. Is he nice? Shall we try to engineer a romance? ;D

She's in Whitefields - about 30 seconds stagger from the bar and a similar distance from Costcutter - but a bit of a walk to where she's supposed to be working. Fortunately she has a bicycle!
No he's not nice, he's a GIT.
He's at Bluebell, and also has a bike, but being from the sticks is still sans city-grade lock. So, for this week he's on a green pomp, and hopefully (we did nag & underline the importance, but, y'know) gets sufficient lock-age for that to remain so.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 16 October, 2012, 07:15:22 pm
I know my son is alive only because of Facebook pictures currently. It seems fresher's week became fresher's month and he has hardly slept in his own bed  :facepalm:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/feistyfeline/chrisuniroommess.jpg)

I wonder when he will run out of money for parties .....
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 16 October, 2012, 09:35:05 pm
Bloody arts student!


I reckon he's really the biggest swot in the first year and he's just faking these pics to make you jealous.  ;D
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Butterfly on 16 October, 2012, 10:00:33 pm
At least his bike hasn't been nicked yet :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: L CC on 08 November, 2012, 12:23:05 pm
He's at Bluebell, and also has a bike, but being from the sticks is still sans city-grade lock. So, for this week he's on a green pomp, and hopefully (we did nag & underline the importance, but, y'know) gets sufficient lock-age for that to remain so.
He failed to get sufficient lock-age.
Prat.

If anyone from the midlands is offered a green pompino by a man inna pub, check out the provenance.
 :facepalm:

The halls had a visit from the boys in blue who labelled all the bikes with inadequate locks, in order to advise new and (in this case) lazy students to get better protection. No1Son admitted he didn't even get round to taking the 'this bike is at risk' label off it.  :facepalm: He got back from a weekend at his girlfriend's to find the pomp gone.
I know he must be clever, coz he got those twinkles an that, but really... You can tell them all you like but ...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: barakta on 08 November, 2012, 01:20:34 pm
Erk re his pomp being stolen.  Thieves are vile, I wish someone could stop them actually thieving in the first place :(
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: clarion on 08 November, 2012, 02:20:42 pm
Oh good grief! >:(
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: jane on 08 November, 2012, 04:08:39 pm
My daughter lost her lovingly built up (by me) fixed on a pretty black and gold Lincoln Imp 1960's frame in her first year in Glasgow, even with a couple of decent locks.  Three years later, in her final year, she still has her tourer (gold Orbit Caraway, my handmedown). However, last week, as she went to unlock the New York Kryptonite she uses on it,  the key snapped off in the lock.  Poor lass can't win, it seems. 
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 08 November, 2012, 04:21:03 pm
On the plus side, she should be able to take her time sawing through it with a hacksaw without any bother from the police...   :(
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: rogerzilla on 08 November, 2012, 06:41:43 pm
Mini bottle jack, cheap from Machine Mart.  Wear eye protection.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: jane on 08 November, 2012, 06:45:42 pm
Do you think a hacksaw would get through it?  She was thinking of borrowing a neighbour's angle grinder.  Is that overkill?
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 08 November, 2012, 07:05:39 pm
If there's an angle grinder available, that seems like a good option.

I imagine a hacksaw would work ...eventually.  I expect you'd get through a few blades and get thoroughly sick of it after the first 20 minutes, though.  They're okay against cable locks, if you've got a second pair of hands.

If there's a spare key and it's in a reasonably sheltered location, I'd be tempted to try retrieving the broken one with a bit of araldite-fu...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 08 November, 2012, 09:41:04 pm
Actually, the New York Kryptonite locks are pretty damned solid (and heavy!).  It's probably going to take a fair amount of work beyond a hacksaw.  I suspect even an angle grinder will take a while.

If it's an old lock with a tubular tumbler lock, then it may be amenable to the old Bic pen trick, but the more modern Kryptonite locks seem to be a bit more proof against this (mainly by not using this type of lock mechanism!).  However (i) the key being broken off suggests this isn't an option, and (ii) the tubular keys don't really break like this, so it's probably a more modern type.

The New York Kryptonites may be too small to be attacked effectively with a mini bottle jack, they deliberately have a quite small "shackle" to minimise this risk (or you risk damaging the frame in the process).
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 08 November, 2012, 10:07:36 pm
Hang on, we're going about this the wrong way.

What YACF staple is good at breaking locks, and you'd be a fool to send your daughter to university without?

That's right:  Thermite!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: TimO on 08 November, 2012, 11:52:58 pm
Hang on, we're going about this the wrong way.

What YACF staple is good at breaking locks, and you'd be a fool to send your daughter to university without?

That's right:  Thermite!

Plenty of advice on Thermite in this thread (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=57247.msg1175290), and a University ought to have some of the chemicals easily available.  The last time we need some solvents, we got them by wandering upstairs to the biophysics area, and asked a random person!

Of course, you could just end up welding the lock to the bike frame ... (or it's smouldering remains).
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: jane on 09 November, 2012, 06:08:54 am
She is an art student, at Glasgow School of Art.  Although, she has used a variety of power tools at various points in the production of her pieces, and some of the work produced might look as though Thermite was used in the process, I don't think there's much of that kind of product available at the art school.  But I may be wrong.
    Her boyfriend, however, has just graduated as an aeronautical engineer and started work at British Aerospace.  I have no idea what he might be able to procure to assist in the process.   And his father works at Faslane.  Between them and the neighbour with the angle grinder, I'm hoping they can sort the problem without my help.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: mcshroom on 09 November, 2012, 08:11:06 am
And his father works at Faslane.

I think some of their stuff might be a bit too powerful :D
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: rogerzilla on 09 November, 2012, 10:16:15 am
A rechargeable angle grinder is the other usual option.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 15 November, 2012, 01:15:11 am
Bad news about the green Pompino  :(

I take back everything I said about my son being quite a careful child. He somehow had a barbed wire interface while climbing to get a cone  :facepalm:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/feistyfeline/chrisarm.jpg)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 15 November, 2012, 01:16:15 am
How's the cone? :)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 15 November, 2012, 01:21:08 am
How's the cone? :)

I think it might be one of the ones in the background on this picture  :facepalm:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/feistyfeline/conesinroomraid.jpg)
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 November, 2012, 12:09:07 pm
^Glad to see the bike's still there!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: L CC on 15 November, 2012, 02:10:08 pm
Unridden, if those rims are anything to by.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: jane on 15 November, 2012, 02:20:02 pm
If it's fixed, with no front brake, I guess the rims can stay pretty clean. But not that safe if it's being ridden anywhere other than the track. My daughter made the mistake of getting white rims for her current fixed- the stolen one was a black and gold theme, so she decided to go for a white and gold scheme next.  We picked up an old white 70's Raleigh  frame for next to nothing, and her dad bought the requested wheels (with gold spokes) for her birthday.  However, I insisted on fitting at least a front brake.  After a year, the front rims were almost completely stripped back to the alloy. Not quite the hipster bling look any longer.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: clarion on 15 November, 2012, 02:23:06 pm
Of course, it's possible that it has been scrupulously and lovingly cleaned after every single outing.

OK, I said 'possible'
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 15 November, 2012, 02:28:40 pm
Or it's only been ridden in carpeted areas...
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 15 November, 2012, 02:49:38 pm
It is fixed, but has a front brake. I know he rode in an alleycat race there, but suspect as everything is quite close together where he is living in Plymouth he hasn't needed to use it for any commuting. Facebook evidence would suggest he and his roomies mostly use a stolen supermarket trolley for transporting each other around  ::-)

I am glad he took my advice to keep his bike in his room not in the bike sheds. He has to relocate it to his en suite shower during fire drills so the warden doesn't see it!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 November, 2012, 04:59:29 pm
Tell him to turn the shower on - he doesn't want his bike burned!
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 November, 2012, 05:00:59 pm
PS White is a bad colour for bike frames, worse for saddles and bars and horrendous for rims. IMO. YOMV.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Feline on 15 November, 2012, 09:32:32 pm
PS White is a bad colour for bike frames, worse for saddles and bars and horrendous for rims. IMO. YOMV.

Oi, I was riding my white bike today  :P
It actually shows the dirt less than my black bike which can even look dusty in dry weather! I found the same with cars, my white mark 1 Escort looked reasonably clean most of the time whereas my black Mini needed regular polishing to look nice. My silver car however copes with being cleaned about twice a year.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Kim on 15 November, 2012, 09:40:37 pm
I quite like white mountain bikes, which are after all supposed to be muddy.

My black bike is perpetually dusty, except for the highly polished bit of top tube where it leans against my leg at traffic lights.
Title: Re: Daughter to Uni - Question 2!
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 November, 2012, 09:56:10 pm
PS White is a bad colour for bike frames, worse for saddles and bars and horrendous for rims. IMO. YOMV.

Oi, I was riding my white bike today  :P
It actually shows the dirt less than my black bike which can even look dusty in dry weather! I found the same with cars, my white mark 1 Escort looked reasonably clean most of the time whereas my black Mini needed regular polishing to look nice. My silver car however copes with being cleaned about twice a year.
I don't think I've seen your white bike - only your black one and your titanium one! You might be right about frames - I was thinking mostly about saddles and bar tape, which tend to get dirty from use rather than mud.

I have a white mountain bike with a partly white saddle.