Class of '18 now in 2019. blimey.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

hang on....

The manual said it would take about 4 hours to wash and dry (cotton cycle). It did say that various factors could make it take longer, but when I left her at 7.30 (so 3 hrs in) it was still rinsing. By 6 hours in it had moved to drying. We don't know how long that took as she went to bed.
My washing machine can do a load of towels in just over an hour with about an hour to dry in a separate dryer so I was rather shocked at the length of time.

That is crazy!

kitten I hope dd is feeling better now.

Oh no Kitten, hope DD gets back on an even keel soon. It’s horrible when they’re upset and you can’t pick them back up very easily, it was so much simpler to make things better when they were younger. For you

Thank you for the flowers :)
She does sound happier tonight. I'd like to give her a quick kiss and shove her cat on top of her bed. But hey ho.

I keep having an ugly sob at the advertisement for teaching that keeps being shown. The small girl walking down the corridor so reminds me of dd when she was about 5. My melancholy goes into overdrive.

Haudin if it is a hot water fill rather than heating up from scratch it will take much longer, and that is the installation method.

All washing machines have a short wash option surely, my machine can take from 2.5 hours to 30 mins depending on how I progamme it. BUT, That sounds ridiculously long even for a longer programme.

complain complain complain!!!

btw anyone getting a new washing machine, MIELE IS WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD (10 year built in warranty), and bosch for us has been rubbish (two dud machines over 10 years)

ds1 has been in good form yesterday, we had some people over and he revved up a bit and made conversation.

Book club dinner tonight, someone's daughter is at Oxford proper in her first year (she probably knows your daughter Lobster because she is in the street dance group and does same subject ) and I am hoping that ds1 won't say too much about his lotus eater habits and will appear tall dark and handsome. We all talk incessantly about our teenagers in the book group and hardly at all about the books, but ironically (or luckily) none of the teenagers/ twenty year olds know each other.

Ooh book club. Maybe I should look for one of those locally. I do need to get out and do stuff but my attempts so far have not gone well. I have been to one meeting of two local craft groups and left early from both because the level of casual everything-ism was disturbing. I think religion was the only thing that would have been missing from my "don't go there" bingo card.

aww Ursula see, you are a softie too.

Found you! You had dropped off tio!

Love to you marmite glad the funeral went well xx. Sorry to hear your news too nettle.

It was the fifth anniversary of my mum's death on Tuesday. It was a surprisingly good day...I had bereavement counselling a while after her death and it was very helpful to me. I still miss her, of course I do, but i have worked through a lot of my grief.

DS started lectures today, after an exam yesterday. He sent me a report to proof read yesterday...i was quite impressed as it is due tomorrow!

DD got her first exam result back today and is absolutely delighted. I really hope it gives her a lovely lift, because she seemed quite hesitant about starting back.

I’m finding it as hard as always to pitch responses in the right place between cheerleading and nagging. If anyone has any golden phrases that go down well please share! Emojis seemed to go down ok today.

I’m finding it as hard as always to pitch responses in the right place between cheerleading and nagging.

It's a fine line, which I also find tricky.

hardwick congratulations to dd on the good result.
I find it hard to balance things too. Dd hates praise but it feels wrong to provide no encouragement.

Well Done to Hardwick and Drummer for the exam results, DD is anxiously awaiting hers still.
Kitten I hope your DD is feeling better this evening, it's so hard when they're sad ☹️
Nettle I think I know of the book club DD that you mentioned - although there may be many who fit your description and it's just a coincidence!

We once had a washer dryer that took forever. It took us ages to realise though because we only ever ran it at night so never noticed how long it took.

I know exactly what you mean about appropriate responses - DD replied to one of my messages yesterday asking if I was high! Apparently I'd used far too many emojis and exclamation marks.

Knot my book group is from nursery days, although we are not a very homogenous group, and I always feel rather the odd one out in some ways.. Ds1 came in to say hello for about five seconds in protective anorak and then hissed at me out of earshot "Who are these women?". I said, "only people who have been coming to book group in this house for the last 15 years..(of course only once a year to this house though), surely you recognise them by now"..
"oh"

What I would like to join [as a novice elderly person], is a Bridge Club. No chat, just analytics. Except most good bridge players insist on certain conventions and rules, and I like to play bridge through magical thinking and a bit of counting.

.

Ds1 is going back tomorrow, just had a heart to heart with him and he said that the little administrative/social anxiety things are worrying him already and he feels as if he starting for the first time at university. It is a week before it starts properly though, it is a mini freshers week in prospect. It all kicked off with a discussion about his posters and how he didn't feel he wanted to put any up because he was worried about the white tack leaving a mark on his halls walls and that sort of worry! It isn't that ridiculous; sadly it all feels quite familiar, that one has those sort of worries over nothing much, although I'm a bit more worried that our ceiling is going to fall down cos some cracks have appeared, than things like blu tak/white tack stains, but same sort of thing He also said he was sad he had achieved nothing much in the holidays, due to this vague feeling of dread.

Nettles does DD have any doors that he could blue tack things on? Like wardrobes or bathroom doors?
I am sorry that he is feeling so anxious.

DD1 has gone back today. DH has driven her up as I had chemo yesterday. Lying in bed watching James Martin cook.

DD has only found one girl to share with as she is not very pushy. They are going to look at a flat on Monday. It seems that Flats have longer contracts than student houses so we will have to start paying from July. I have told her to look at the websites to see if there are any better properties coming on. Bristol seems more laid back with student accommodation as most of it comes on this month rather than last term.

DD and her halls friends have all decided who wants to share with who next year. She seems happy. She will share with one other girl, which may suit her. I do have concerns, but will button up and let her get on with it. I need to try not to project my own flat share horrors on to her! My own planned flat share told me on the day I travelled 70 miles to meet her to go pay our deposit that she had decided to move in with her boyfriend’s parents! I always looked for more than one after that, even when DH and I moved in together (he was years away from being my DH then!)

That is my worry too Hardwick but she seems like a sensible girl so I can only hope it works out ok.

for all those whose DC have gone back this weekend.

I’m picking DD up tomorrow as she is working in her home job on Monday. Her exams are finished so she’s got a ‘free’ week. She is going back Monday evening.

Although thankfully she has discovered the benefits of reading round your subject so some reading will be done.

DS1 has put a deposit down on a studio flat in his name in a private hall, 10 minutes walk from the university. The plan is that his girlfriend will be sharing it with him.

She plans to take a year out after A-levels and work; the halls are happy for a non-student to share so long as the main tenant is a student, and are only charging £15 extra per week for a second resident. DS1 and his girlfriend are aware that she will be charged council tax.

If the relationship lasts, I think this will be good for DS1; she is a good influence on him and he looks after himself better when she is around. If the relationship doesn't last, the whole rent will be expensive, but doable if he gets a part-time job.

That sounds pretty ideal First, if rather grown up

dd doesn't have to do anything about next years accomodation, other than depending on where she is in the ballot, select something.

TheFirst that sounds an appealing set up for next year. There are some studio flats in the block DS is in and I looked at the floor plans and thought they looked well designed.

I have no idea what DS is doing next year and I've decided that I am not even going to ask because he can stay where he is if he wants. It doesn't look that spendy when you consider it's a 39 week contract, he has no travel costs because it's next door to his tuition and he can come home for his lunch.

Yes, I'm feeling relieved that DS will be in college accommodation all 4 years, all.he has to do is apply for rooms depending on ballot. He decided to go to a party tonight, a couple of hours from college, and an hoir or so from us. DD went with a bunch of mates, had no.idea her big bro was going to be there. A friend filmed the moment the kids saw each other and hugged. Made me tear up they were so pleased to see each other after only a week apart!