Class of '18 nattering as they head in different directions.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Hope this works. On phone with dodgy signal.

new thread crap title

Thankyou Kitten for sorting out our new home

DD has her last weekend bar shift today, and her last shift working with DD2 - they were both a bit emotional about it when they left this morning. (DD2 probably mostly because she'll no longer get a lift there and back! )
She has lunchtime shifts tomorrow and Tuesday and then she's finished.
She'll be more upset about teaching her final dance class on Thursday.

The dance class will be the end of the era I bet Lobster?

I like the title Kitten.

By the end of the next one they will probably all be gone!!!!

It really will Kitten, it's been such a huge part of her life for so long.
She is hoping to continue with ballet and join the university dance society as long as she can manage her study time, but she will miss her teaching most of all I think.

One of the advantages of having a chaotic household is that now I can spend the next week tidying up and rearranging furniture and very little time to think about absent children. THERE IS A LOT TO TIDY. dd is putting together an Ikea wardrobe with her friend who is doing D & T A level, and put together a chest of drawers in my absence yesterday. A lot of cr**p is being chucked too. Mostly football pullouts bluetacked to walls and motheaten clothes discovered under bedframes.
I don't expect to hear much for a week, I think it would surprise me greatly if ds phones up or texts.
I went for a long walk this morning in the September weather to remind myself how nice it is to be more of a freeagent. Especially nice to think he is having the same freedom to roam around in this same weather, with the trees and autumn colours.

ursula ds is going to have to do a lot of walking now. The busroute is very peripatetic to campus and it is much quicker to walk from halls, but still 20 mins. He cannot cycle atm, but I was thrilled that he pointed out a cycle training place near his halls. I can only hope he doesn't get carried away and start cycling before he is trained. The traffic near his halls is actually quite dangerous, there is a parking issue although students are not allowed cars, they still use them and park them illicitly in the streets nearby.
I'm rambling. There are so many things to worry over, and the best thing is not to think about any of it.

Good luck 2boys. Totally normal feelings.

DD considers 3 am very late Ursula! she was worried about drinking/staying out bit has found a likeminded tribe.

DS1 was the same, but this summer, at the end of second year, he seems to have changed some of his ideas!

Am very envious of DCs keepingin touch. I had a phone call on Thursday but had heard very little before that or since then. I need to know if she wants me to forward the welcome to uni brochure that arrived yesterday!

gnome it is a relief to know there are people like your dd who are going to bail out my ds if he gets into scrapes. I remember once peering through the school railings at my ds's Reception Playground and another little boy had fallen over, and a little girl was escorting him off to the teacher, saying don't worry lets go and find Miss. It seems to be very early instinct to care for others in trouble even if they aren't family members, I think if I had done Pyschology A level it is in there with the Selfish Gene isn't it, that sheep get some feedback from looking after their fellow sheep even when it doesnt benefit them as an individual, it benefits the group.

raspberry I have heard nothing from ds and don't expect to, as I said earlier. He gave me a massive hug when I left though which is unusual for him - I think he was trying to comfort ME rather than gettting comfort from me, ifysim.

There is now a terrible banging noise coming from upstairs, and ds2 is listening to Formula I downstairs at top volume.

Nettle I think there is a symbiotic relationship between the risk takers who get into scrapes and the care takers who look out for them when things go wrong. Society needs both.

That’s so true gnome DS was nicknamed calpol at secondary school, because he made everything better when it went wrong.

Well, DD has now admitted that it was a mistake not go through clearing/adjustment, or not applying for jobs/volunteering earlier.

She is lonely and bored, and fed up of me nagging her to apply for more jobs. She doesn't understand that you need to apply for loads of jobs at a time to get even one interview.

On the upside, we visited two universities this weekend and she liked both of them. As she already has A levels at the right grade they have told her that she will get an unconditional offer, but it means waiting for another year.

Does she have any idea of what type of work she wants? If it's retail lots of stores are advertising for Xmas temps which could turn into a permanent job (at least until she goes to university) - that's how DS got his job.

I'm sorry to hear she's feeling down.

She has applied for loads of retail jobs, but has no experience.

Neither did DS - he'd only had experience volunteering in a care home.

Fingers crossed she find something.

I think this is the worst point for her Lonicera, not being busy when everyone else is preoccupied.

Off hand I can think of languages, National Trust Volunteering, do a new A level in one year, an Arts course (foundation courses are free until you are 19 did you know?), or just plain working in a coffee shop for a bit and then going travelling with the money she has earned? Those are all things children of friends have done.

One friend said how happy she was when her daughter who went on to biochem at Manchester, just had a year working gently in a pub for 4 months and travelling afterwards, it was exactly what she had needed to recharge and gain confidence after a frenetic academic schedule culminating in 3 A*s - she was very young for her year like your dd but very academic and had been on the treadmill for so long.

I am making some headway in the sorting. ds2 is safely installed in his new room, complaining already about the unfamiliar creaking floorboard and saying he needs his poster of the USSR before its collapse up! Dd could now be hired out to assemble Ikea furniture if anyone wants her.

She hates languages, we have no NT properties within miles of where we live, she doesn't want to do any more A levels or work in a coffee shop and doesn't have the self confidence to go travelling on her own.

DD has volunteered in a care home and has been a young leader in brownies for a couple of years, and has just applied to do some voluntary work in the local hospital.

One of the problems we have is that we are rural and DD doesn't drive so she is limited as to where she can apply for jobs. She has had an interview in a shop and done a trial hour there, but they haven't got back to her yet.

I think the main issue is that her boyfriend is being a bit of a dick and I wish he would just end it instead of stringing her along.

I hope she finds something soon as her social life is now nil.

Lonicera - would she consider Camp America.

Only travel alone would be from NYC after orientation go wherever camp is.

She would spend a few months with other young people, be paid and have her food and lodgings included.

Ds hoping to go next summer as we have friends who own a camp and have offered him a job.

Generally at the end of the season the young people do some travelling together.

I sugested that, but she wasn't keen. She is not at all confident and is under the CFS team, so I doubt she has the ennergy to be able to fire on all cylinders in a summer camp situation. She can go through a day or part of a day being perfectly OK then she suddenly crashes.

Lonicera I really feel for your DD, it must be hard enough for her without the boyfriend issue on top.
Does she want to learn to drive? That could be a good focus for now, and would open up more opportunities for jobs.
DD's friend has just started a semi intensive course, I think she's having 3 lessons a week and really enjoying it (had one lesson last year and hated it, refused to do another) She's taking a gap year too and has a job lined up abroad over Christmas, but is feeling a bit like your DD at the moment I think, watching everyone else leaving.

I have told her that she has to learn to drive. She is less keen - again I think this is a confidence issue, plus she is afraid that she will fall asleep at the wheel. Where we live not being able to drive is really limiting, so it has hugely limited where she can look for work.

Honestly she is her own worst enemy.

Two slots left so it's time for us to shuffle over to the new thread. I could tell you about the exciting tales of the George twins (they all look alike to me) in the wormery but I am happy to say that they aren't getting up to anything interesting. They seem to be happy on a diet of tea bags, coffee grounds and toilet roll middles.