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Original poster

Anyone else had a rubbish school holidays?

142 replies

Blueybanditbingochilli · 02/09/2024 14:39

Namely because of:

  1. The fucking WEATHER. No doubt I will be piled on telling me to buy puddle suits and ‘crack on’ but it’s been absolutely miserable and I will not hear otherwise. We haven’t been abroad, we don’t have nearby family to visit and we don’t have good inexpensive indoor local attractions so every rainy day (which has genuinely been most days) has been SHIT and we have gone out of our minds with boredom.
  2. The age of my children (5 and 17 months), an ENDLESS treadmill of toilet visits, nappy changes, meals, naps, drinks before doing the lot again. They can’t be left alone together as they fight and wind each other up so to even go for a piss I have to strap the youngest, screaming, into his pram while the oldest desperately tries to get to him to cause more havoc.
  3. My youngest has been ill on and off after starting nursery all summer with croup, ear infections, whooping cough and HFM, so on top of the rainy days we have also spent ‘ill’ days sat bored out of our skulls in the living room which I swear one day will be the purgatory I spend my afterlife in.

Not interested in smug stories about puddle suits, impeccably behaved children with fabulous immune systems or those who ‘love the cooler weather’. This is a rant thread for those who can relate to my position and nothing more. Roll on school!

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greengreyblue · 06/09/2024 06:59

@Pavolvaa What chn want to do and what you allow are two different things .

tealandteal · 05/09/2024 22:45

This thread has me questioning if I understand how weather works. I live SW and have seen people from neighbouring counties say they have had horrid weather and lovely weather. We have had nice weather, as in sun cream on the children, needing to water the allotment most of the time. I had no idea that there was such variation even 50 miles away that they could have had a rainy summer.

Pavolvaa · 05/09/2024 22:25

Terrible! Spent around £1500 on holiday clubs as we both work full time, kids enjoyed those but was still a rush getting them there, right clothes, packed lunch etc. We had 2 weeks off imagining low key “chilled” days at home or going out to places nearby, kids behaviour was just awful and they just wanted to watch TV and eat junk food. Weather was shit for most of the time in south east, had maybe ten nice days- had the paddling pool up 3 x at start of hols when it was really hot.

Crikeyalmighty · 05/09/2024 22:20

@Blueybanditbingochilli yep ! I did go away 16 th July to 26th- so unless it was amazing then- only consistently good week I can remember was end of June around Glastonbury

BlackeyedSusan · 05/09/2024 22:15

Blueybanditbingochilli · 03/09/2024 10:40

No but of course piping up when people are clearly struggling to say you’re delighted you have the crap weather you want 100% of the time rather than the usual 90% will make you a bit insufferable and people will probably react to that.

Show quote history

Precisely!

Hope autumn is a bit better for you.

Original poster
Blueybanditbingochilli · 03/09/2024 10:56

And, to continue my complaint, we also had an ‘unusually wet’ spring so it has literally been raining pretty much all YEAR and it is now September with no sign of a dry spell.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-68666843.amp

Flooding on the River Exe

How El Niño is delivering a sodden spring to Devon and Cornwall - BBC News

A weather event off the coast of Peru is having an influence on the weather in Devon and Cornwall.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-68666843.amp

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Original poster
Blueybanditbingochilli · 03/09/2024 10:45

Crikeyalmighty · 03/09/2024 10:07

@ladygindiva and shit here too in Bath- - that's why I was baffled at someone who said they were in SW and it had been good- maybe my perception of good isn't there's

I’m in the SW. This is today, and what a minimum of 70% of the summer has been like - about 19 degrees, windy, with intermittent rain. The blue and sun will come out for an hour, during which time you scramble to get the kids into their shoes and off to the park, when you get there it returns to being like this and you get rained on. The local park is a bog and at one point I counted 12 days in a row of rain.

I’m not saying other posters are lying or misremembering but I think it’s astonishing that other people have had long, hot and apparently lovely summers a mere 90 minute drive from here.

Anyone else had a rubbish school holidays?
OP posts:
Original poster
Blueybanditbingochilli · 03/09/2024 10:40

BlackeyedSusan · 03/09/2024 09:36

So the fuck what if I, or other people ,like cooler weather ... doesn't help you if you don't and have had a shit time.

I think generally summer holidays are less good than one expects/imagines.

No but of course piping up when people are clearly struggling to say you’re delighted you have the crap weather you want 100% of the time rather than the usual 90% will make you a bit insufferable and people will probably react to that.

OP posts:
parkrun500club · 03/09/2024 10:26

The thing I am finding weird about this summer is the assumption that everyone has been off for six weeks.

Everyone is saying did you have a good summer etc.

I just worked as normal and had a week off! The weather was great the week I was off, possibly a bit too hot.

It seems to be a particular "thing" this summer.

Other than school staff, who are all these people who get six weeks off? I have a colleague who takes the summer off, but it's very much the exception where I am.

I'd much rather have cooler weather.

RhubarbAndCustardSweets · 03/09/2024 10:25

I'm in Cumbria. The weather has been truly shit. I've even had the heating on at times.

My 11 year old just wants to game and not do anything. I have got him out every day but my word it has been a battle. He's too old for soft play etc and indoor activities around here are limited. My DD is happy pottering about and is generally happy but even she has had her moments.

We had Covid a couple of weeks ago and had to cancel a visit to family as a result. Can't afford to go abroad. I'm seriously fed up.

PiggyPokkyFool · 03/09/2024 10:18

@Blueybanditbingochilli
DD1 was just like your daughter - curious - and the advantage is the questioning turned into constant reading by the time she was 6 and life was so easy from then.
But for now I give you this.

Anyone else had a rubbish school holidays?
Crikeyalmighty · 03/09/2024 10:07

@ladygindiva and shit here too in Bath- - that's why I was baffled at someone who said they were in SW and it had been good- maybe my perception of good isn't there's

BlackeyedSusan · 03/09/2024 09:36

So the fuck what if I, or other people ,like cooler weather ... doesn't help you if you don't and have had a shit time.

I think generally summer holidays are less good than one expects/imagines.

ladygindiva · 03/09/2024 09:10

whatwhatwhot · 02/09/2024 15:04

@Blueybanditbingochilli do you live in Northern Ireland? Or somewhere similar ? Weather in the south of UK has been pretty good. Plenty of warm sunny days. My parents in NI have had a crap summer but that is the same every year pretty much.

It's been fairly shit here in Cornwall

Bloom15 · 03/09/2024 09:05

So sorry to everyone else who has lost someone they love. It's so shit

Flipsock · 03/09/2024 08:07

Yeah I have. My mum died unexpectedly at the very beginning of the school holiday. We had lots of plans together with my very small children, who she adored beyond all measure, and they her.

Their summer holiday has been just awful, no holiday, hardly any days out, nothing fun, just a big shadow cast by what happened, lots of grief and a funeral. It’s been really, really hard.

flightless55 · 03/09/2024 07:34

NeverDropYourMooncup · 02/09/2024 17:37

Well, the first two weeks were hot and filled with cro-magnons (wouldn't give them the credit of reaching Neanderthal levels of intellect) smashing shit up and generally ruining the only guaranteed full week off work I had, DP's employers forced him to WFH one week because it suited them when I had already agreed to work, then permitted him to take 5 days of the 15 he had outstanding because it didn't suit them to let him take them earlier, but refused to let him take the remainder because 'we need somebody here' to work completely by himself whilst they were all on holiday/didn't bother recruiting for a replacement for the person who left, so he's lost 10 days of annual leave due to it being year end.

On top of that, it's been stiflingly hot and dull when not blazing & too hot, the rain completely failed to clear the air at all and I've been fielding barked instructions to do stuff outside my role all summer, all demanding that I do Not My Job for them as though they're the only priority in the world.

Oh, and I got up this morning to find that DP had decided to put my new clothes into a wash at 6am - except for the two brand new cotton shirts I'd bought, which he has apparently baked until crispy and have to be soaked again in the hope that the creases come out and haven't been shrunk three sizes in the process. So I did a shit day in shit stuffy weather with hot flushes (as the GP has fucked up and lost the HRT prescription and now doesn't want to re-prescribe) in a nylon shirt I'd earmarked for the bin.

Edited

Erm... that's illegal and they can't do that - they needed to let him take them or pay him

olyolyolyoly · 03/09/2024 07:29

I hear you OP.

My kids are slightly older and I guess it has been a bit easier than the last two summers, so there's some hope for you!

But when you're trying to work and juggle childcare with kids who don't want to go to the childcare you've arranged it's very hard work! I have a fairly flexible job and have taken annual leave, but even job flexibility has its limits !

Having family nearby and holiday clubs would make things easier but it's still hard work ferrying kids around and the emotions wear you down.

and the "making memories brigade" can piss off !! most of the people posting about making memories have kids who are too young to remember these things anyway

Alli88 · 03/09/2024 07:24

My kids have been back for a few weeks the holidays seem so long ago

Original poster
Blueybanditbingochilli · 03/09/2024 07:20

greengreyblue · 03/09/2024 06:23

Had great weather bar 2 days I think- central England. Where are you?
Try not to dwell, it’s over now. Think about what went wrong and plan for next time.

2 days? You must’ve had an unprecedented heatwave bordering on drought then as the average rain days for August is 9 - did you have a hosepipe ban?

OP posts:
Original poster
Blueybanditbingochilli · 03/09/2024 07:17

autienotnaughty · 03/09/2024 06:36

I thought the weather was pretty decent. I'm in the north and upto the last week there has been barely any rain.

I plan the hols. I make a list of things we are doing , things we want to do and then leave a few days spare for chilling/park/see friends.

So each week would look something like this-

Monday- chill day - toys in morning, park afternoon
Tuesday- see grandparents
Wednesday - day out to farm
Thursday- work
Friday- sports camp

So I know what we are doing. Plus I find free events to attend such as library activities to keep costs down

No grandparents here unfortunately and my children are not old enough for camps.

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Boxachocs · 03/09/2024 07:14

ohfourfoxache · 02/09/2024 23:18

@Boxachocs @Captainmycaptains and others, just wanted to send you a hug. Sorry you’re going through such an awful time

Lost my mum last week following what feels like the longest summer in history. Feels like I’m running on empty 😭

@ohfourfoxache It’s really shit isn’t it? Doesn’t feel real.

LlynTegid · 03/09/2024 07:04

I hope for everyone you can make some good use of the pleasant September days especially weekends. Don't let this month go by.

Sympathy for those who have had difficult behaviour from children to deal with.

autienotnaughty · 03/09/2024 06:36

I thought the weather was pretty decent. I'm in the north and upto the last week there has been barely any rain.

I plan the hols. I make a list of things we are doing , things we want to do and then leave a few days spare for chilling/park/see friends.

So each week would look something like this-

Monday- chill day - toys in morning, park afternoon
Tuesday- see grandparents
Wednesday - day out to farm
Thursday- work
Friday- sports camp

So I know what we are doing. Plus I find free events to attend such as library activities to keep costs down

greengreyblue · 03/09/2024 06:23

Had great weather bar 2 days I think- central England. Where are you?
Try not to dwell, it’s over now. Think about what went wrong and plan for next time.