I think it just depends on the personality of the supervisor and the Phd student. I have one supervisor who is a very friendly and chatty young-ish man who I feel comfortable with, and occasionally we have meetings in cafes or quick lunches outside of uni where we discuss work but also chat about ourselves (nothing too personal, but friendly talk about things not directly related to my work). My other supervisor is 65+ and a professor who seems very busy and frankly is barely involved in my work. I send him work and occasionally get feedback from him (rarely is the feedback detailed or useful) - all in all he gives the impression that I am one student amongst many and honestly sometimes I think he doesnt even know my actual name, let alone how my research is progressing. I feel that the friendlier supervisor is more aware of my work, the ins and outs of my research, and fully appreciates all the hard work I have put in. A close-ish relationship I think is beneficial as I would not hesitate to ask for help if I needed it, and if I was having personal problems that affected my work I know he would be genuinely understanding.

Hi there - I am also in the final push. I am aiming for a submission at the start of October and have done nothing all this week! (the guilt is pretty bad but I keep procrastinating) I am at a sort of limbo stage as I have printed out my first full drafts and given copies to my two supervisors (on 17th July) but havent heard a word since. I knew it would take a good few weeks for them to get through 80-odd thousand words so I deliberately did not write a conclusion for the draft so I could work on it in the meantime. I have arranged my notes etc. for it, but havent started writing. I find I just keep wondering about the looming feedback - if its going to be bad, if they want me to do more than I can in the time I have left... All this worry isnt helped by the fact that I have yet to apply for any jobs - Northern Ireland is a pityfully small place and there seems to be no jobs on the horizon for me! (why did I do history of ART, pfft.)