The Year Round Nigel Slater discussion thread part 6

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all, and welcome to this lovely space for our continued chats.

A bit of background for anyone not familiar with this topic:
The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles readalong usually takes place here on Mumsnet between November and February each year - the Christmas Chronicles being a book written by Nigel Slater full of winter recipes and anecdotes - It has been running for a few years, and the contributors collectively decided it would be nice to have it running all year round.

So here it is. It is a place to appreciate all things Nigel-esque. Think seasonal food and recipes, enjoyment of nature, gardening, appreciation of the weather, and sharing of news and small moments of joy. It's a calm, cosy space for gentle chat and merriment so pull up a chair, grab a drink and relax.

A very hearty welcome to friends new and old

N.B. The Christmas Chronicles thread proper will start in late October, ready for the book beginning on 1st November (seems a long way off, but will be here before we know it!)

I am trying to get all of mine through Grade 5 piano, singing and theory by the time they leave primary so they do not have to do any music exams while doing GCSEs and A levels, which I found unhelpful (and is why I am redoing my Grade 6 piano this winter, so I can then do my Grade 8; I passed Grade 7 in first year of uni - so I think no exams with music exams is key).

My eldest has 11+ next year. He's been having tutoring for a few months but didn't do brilliantly at the first school 11+ session. We really need him to do well, because one of his sister's will do really well (we suspect) and we can't have them in different schools due to distances. Not sure what we are going to do. Husband is now talking about boarding, which I am absolutely opposed to. I can't help eldest because it just doesn't work. Not sure how we will manage this. It's hard to accept that at just turned 9 he is potentially limiting his options. Asked him what he wanted from a secondary school and he said netball and music. Not sure what to do with that. He is a bright little thing, but he really struggles to focus.

DD did one GCSE in y10 too (RS). This is the second year out of the last 6 where we haven't had a results day in August.

Hehe. thrilled. Love it. Indeed that is an honour for sure!

I don't think all schools do it. We had an open evening about it last night, but we already knew as they started the GCSE syllabus books year ago - and have pretty much already finished them, otherwise it wouldn't be possible to cram them all in - plus 15 poems - between now and next May.

I also love Macbeth and thankfully, so does DD. Sadly, there's nowt coming up at any of the theatres locally any time soon. DD says her absolute dream would be Benedict Cumberbatch in the part. Must admit I'd go along with that. No doubt he has probably already done it at some point in his career.

Shakespeare choices for GCSE in England are either Macbeth, R&J, or The Tempest. Fingers crossed for your DSS and you that he gets Macbeth. DD hated R&J and also hated doing A Midsummer Nights Dream sadly.

That sounds like a good plan @MichaelmasDaisiesAndAutumSunset about getting music exams done and dusted now. I felt a little sad about Prince George starting Eton today as a full time boarder. Mainly because I know the King has been very open about how he hated boarding school, and I can't get my head around it at all. Not that it's really a thing here anyway.

Yes. The exam dates are already etched in my brain for next year and I'll be adding the August results date to my diary. This is all totally new and novel to us as I just have DD unlike yourself @ElegantDress Wow. Only 2 years out of 6 with no exams.

Good luck to you all with the exams @MichaelmasDaisiesAndAutumSunset! There's so much pressure on them in school exam years, it's great if they can keep the music going without having a strict goal to meet with that too. I am now however having flashbacks from my full-time music teaching years of many 'cramming in Grade 5 theory by a deadline' pupils 😫😂I did love teaching theory though, at one point I had a whole family including the parents learning together, which was fun (parents were the worst for not doing their homework). I really loved teaching the higher grades of it too, that's when it gets really interesting!

Im also doing my grade 6 theory (slowly). I love the theory side!

@RainbowZebraWarrior
I discovered the other day that the Coen brothers made a film version of Macbeth, might be interesting for your DD? I haven’t seen it but I love Fargo, The Big Lebowski etc. I don’t know the certificate though so do check!

@MichaelmasDaisiesAndAutumSunset
I do feel for your DS. I’m an 11+ tutor and know about the pressures. My very small cohort have their test this Thursday.

This year was the 4th year in a row for exam results chez Ripple…be nice to have a break for a while.

Oh wow! That's a lot of exams!You definitely deserve a break!

That makes me very happy! I'm a big fan of Grade 6 and 7 theory. 8 is really hard - when I sat mine there were only two of us doing it and the other person left after 45 minutes (or whenever the earliest you can leave is). He was either a genius or just bailed out! I was there to the bitter end of three hours with nobody else in the hall, and the invigilators feeding me jelly babies 😁

Impressive that you got 8 - that's really cool. I'm finding six a bit of a stretch, but only because my Grade 5 stuff is so rusty!

I'm doing grade 1 with the younger two and 2 with the elder (he did 1 through choir) so feel I need to keep expanding my knowledge (and definitely need a brush up on the old stuff). Hopefully I'll do my Grade 8 one day but I'm not counting on it!

Well, if you ever need a long distance tutor... 😁The two people I taught to Grade 8 actually did better than me because they're good pianists and I'm not - there's a question where you have to complete a bit of piano music and that was absolutely my nemesis.

I occasionally toy with the idea of doing a theory diploma, but it's both expensive and brain-stretching!

Fabulous! I was chatting to DD this morning and she had a feeling there was some sort of film version that we were going to look for tonight. Now at least I know what I'm looking for. Thank you!

The Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender is also spectacular.

Great call. Looks like it's still on Prime! Thanks 😊

O felt like putting the bunting out when we finished "our" last gcse

Thanks - I will definitely come to you if I need a tutor!

I'm not a great pianist, sadly. My husband is amazing - got his diploma, played his way through uni and is deeply sceptical of my meagre abilities 🤣 I mean, I get it, but I can point out when the kids are playing a Grade 2 piece wrong.

Thanks @piscofrisco I think she will settle in nicely, it's a lot for their little brains though!
Hope you feel much better soon.

I know some of you are keen dahlia growers and it’s inspired me to have a go at growing a cafe crème dahlia; this year I’ve managed it! Unfortunately it’s been so windy I’ve had to cut the flowers off instead of leaving them on the plant, but I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them inside. Now I’ve got to find out how to keep it over the winter so I can start it up again next spring.

I’m seeing Macbeth at Shakespeare North next week! It is not my favourite Shakespeare but like so many I did it for gcse so it is very familiar. I don’t think the things we had drummed into us at 15/16 ever leave
Beautiful dahlia @Seasidebubbles - I’ve actually got a few in flower this year after last year’s utter write off. One of them, weirdly, is a bright pink cactus type and has emerged in the middle of a flower bed where I have no recollection of planting any dahlia and certainly wouldn’t deliberately have put a pink one 🤷‍♀️
I’m on my way back from dropping DD1’s stuff (but not her yet) at her new student house. It is very nice and nearly spotless which is a first. We decided to do down and back in a day though (because we have to take DD2 in 180 degrees different direction on Friday) so we are on about hour 8 of motorway driving and really over it. DH and I have split the drive but it’s still very tedious. We have listened to 3 of the 4 ‘rest is history’ episodes about the troubles so I might go on mastermind, specialist subject the IRA (apart from the bits where I randomly stopped listening for a few minutes 🤣🤣)

I didn't get into Shakespeare until a long time after school - it wasn't so much of a thing in the Scottish education system, we did do Romeo and Juliet at some point but that was all. Favourites I've seen include John Simm in Hamlet and David Tennant in Much Ado About Nothing. Saw Titus Andronicus at the Globe and left quite traumatised (and not just by perching on the benches)!

Gosh @martha79 , grade 8 is brutal - so much harder than it was back in the day too. @MichaelmasDaisiesAndAutumSunset it’s good to have a hobby … this seems extreme though!

I started my online embroidery course tonight. Goldwork and beading. It too me three hours to do the work in the photo - blissfully quiet companionship over zoom with other makers and a super duper course leader.

@piscofrisco I hope you’re soon on the up. There’s a lot going around.

@Celiathebanshee congrats on having another uni student. The driving, not so much tho. I’ve seen a youngster today to sort her dyslexia evidence ahead of uni. Exciting times for the youngsters.

Wow! That looks beautiful @Bimblesalong !

Gorgeous embroidery @Bimblesalong (and thank you! Two down one to go 🤣)

excellent embroidery @Bimblesalongand what a lovely course. Do they do one for total beginners? My Mum used to embroider and she embarked, when I was about two, on this huge Japanese scene. She as at for thirty years here and there until her fingers became too arthritic. I would love to be able to finish it for her but I would have no real clue. I see a lot of those kits on line that teach you basic stitches and wonder if they are any good?

Thats a lot of driving @Celiathebanshee. Things we do for these kiddos eh. How far apart will they be? I think DD1 will not now go to uni. She is on her second ‘gap year’ now. She feels she should rather than wants so and it’s more about being in totally unnecessary competition with her sister I think. She has a lovely job booking events and hotels for people and gets to stay in lots of swish places-she is going for a work thing at the Mandarin Oriental for two nights next week, and Barcelona the next. I’ve said to her it’s nice work if you can get it at 20-not everyone needs a degree. I’m secretly relieved as I’ve no idea how I would have funded both of them at uni at the same time, through we would have found a way to make it work and still will
if that’s what she wants.

My two dahlias have been a bit poor this year. Too hot for them. I don’t know if I will even bother to lift the tubers.

I *think I’m feeling slightly better today. I really didn’t move yesterday and it may have helped a bit. Still coughing but nowhere near as much. Temperature gone and not feeling as wobbly. Tinnitus still here however and that can do one.

It looks sunny and crisp out and we need bread and milk so I’m going to chance a walk to the corner shop.

I watched all of Cranford yesterday in bed-the best TV for sick days surely? and lots of episodes of The Line (which I started watching to try to improve my French-useless for that as they speak so fast, but have now become totally embroiled in from a story point of view).

Have a lovely Wednesday all

Morning all

3 full days in of school and college and I am ordering boxes not packets of printer paper.

The youngster was looking for his other “Birka” (we went to the Viking island in the summer) note book to keep different maths studies “separate” he isn’t quite working with his quill yet (yes Harry Potter has a lot to answer for) but the eldest writes his D&D ideas in quill (and his handwriting is so much neater) - they can be more NigelThanNigel sometimes but then they have staff (me&H) which allows this indulgence.

Shame chemistry revision isn’t quite so desirable.

I need to drag out a load of revision notes - so effectively re-clutter the downstairs, I won’t do it, but can understand why students burn their books after exams! I will shred. And enjoy every moment.