This weekend my daughter will arrive home from university for the summer recess, and a long, long, long vacation (did I mention how long it is?). Most universities in Britain, it seems, have dispensed with the third term of education, and most students complete any constructive learning shortly after Easter, allowing them a full five months to while away. Given the crisis in student housing, however, she has already paid for accommodation for the next year. As her chief benefactor on this educational journey, I will now be paying rent on an empty flat throughout the holidays. It’s an inexplicably draining situation, financially and spiritually.
Meantime, she joins the great mass of students now looking at part-time work. And weeks of loafing around the house. I find this seasonal transition one of the most challenging: on the one hand I love having my darling progeny about me. On the other, I can’t stand living in what will become her student digs.