Thank you to everyone for your replies and reassurance. I now feel much more relaxed about the whole thing - and and even looking forward to it!

Travelodge. Book online as far in advance as possible. Rates vary, but I never pay more than £29 a night - and in central London (King's Cross, City, etc). If you can come down on Sunday (for Monday morning), you shouldn't have a problem. And I recently had a run of central London rooms for £9 and another for £19. These are perfectly good, no frills, private ensuite hotel rooms, sold budget airline style

I'm starting a self-funded fulltime PhD at Cardiff in about four weeks' time at the ripe old age of 42. I managed to avoid a first degree and did my masters on a modular course at Bath, so was never really engaged with the uni there (only visited the library once in five years!). I'm still living in Bath (where I have child care responsibilities) and will have to spend about a day a week in London to earn a little bit of money. My school in Cardiff is being very woolly about dates/times. The website says semester starts on Sept 24, but when I rang to check some details they said that there was enrolment on Sept 22, library training on Sept 23, etc. Argh! None of these dates/times are published anywhere and they say they'll let me know "soon" about other induction activities. Is such a laissez-faire approach the norm? I can't plan my work/life/childcare like this!

I also noticed that the postgrads' site has a fortnight of socialising/drinking evening events. With childcare to deal with in Bath (an hour or more away), I can't see me getting to many, if any, of these events. I'd hate to appear to be standoff-ish or to get off on the wrong foot, but I'm wondering if I'm going to miss out on anything.

Thoughts from older (and younger) PhDs welcome... Thanks!

Thanks. I'm 41. I'm giving several papers at conferences this year. I'm widely published in the media. The difficulty for me is that I live just 15 mins from this university, and it's the only one with an interest in this subject area. On paper it would seem ideal. The reality is a different story...

I have been discussing a PhD with my local university for 18 months. They keep saying they are enthusiastic, they have awarded me Visiting Fellowship status (to get access to the library) and they have included my research project on their website. BUT, in order to devote the necessary time, I need the funding. All this time the department head says she is about to apply to funders, she'll be doing it shortly, "tomorrow" I'll have a copy of her proposal, etc, etc. This is dragging on interminably. It seems that funding applications have to come from the university - but what to do if the university departmnt will not pull its finger out?! They seem to want the project, but they just seem unable/unwilling to get deal with the funding. Also, I don't have a first degree but DO have an MBA. Again, I get mixed messages: sometimes it's not an issue, sometimes it could be a stumbling block. Any advice, please?