Thread 35 - Covid Cohort from GCSE 2020 'What They Did on Their Summer Holidays'

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades. It's all relative!
Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.
Our DS/DD may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will find a thread within the Further Ed board.
Possibly a move to Parent of Adult Children Board in future? Post Results?

Previous Thread

Admin morning here. Sorted insurance on new house and DS now has civer for things in room at university and laptop outside the house.

Logged on to support his student finance application and his application isn't in my account and neither is DD's for next year. DH's has DS's showing. DD needs to download then upload a new form and I have to download and upload the paper copy of the online form then scan and upload to DS's account as my account is lacking an upload link 🙄

@MirandaWest that sounds exciting. What happens to the band when they go to university?

After all the tattoos and piercings discussion my 2 DSs went out for the afternoon yesterday with their GFs and came back having gone to Trago Mills (big dept store in Devon and Cornwall) with painting by numbers and airfix kits via a visit to a National Trust place - just continuing things they used to do on holiday! They went to a festival for the weekend (Truck) so they are not really middle aged before their time!

So, DS1 has lost phone and bank cards on last night of holiday...

@MirandaWest glad the gig went well (even if a bit shorter than planned).

@Seeline - that is great news for your DD, seems to be so much easier to get help at uni.

@Monkey2001 how great that your 2 DS and their gfs go out together - did smirk at NT though :-) Totally get the painting my number and airfix kit though, great fun.

@Piggywaspushed Ouch!! Flight boarding pass only on phone? Will he be able to sort out his end?

Fortunately boarding passes all printed due to my mistrust of DS...

And you were right :-) I printed off DDs too as back up and got the eye roll.

The other day DD mentioned that she was letting a "friend" use her provisional driving licence as proof of ID (as is usual here it seems, DD did it many times before she was 18) but I had told her never to lend hers out. Seems she ignored that advice so I gave the lecture of how we had spoken about it previously that she shouldn't let anyone else use her ID etc etc, what would happen if they lose it or get it confiscated.. Anyway after telling me I was talking rubbish it would be fine etc, she told me the next day that her friend had lost it... Great, DD has driving test in Sept. DD still wasn't that bothered as said friend will pay £20 for replacement and there was loads of time to get another one. I know that's true but still no need to take the risk. She didn't even charge her friend to borrow it! Not really a friend, just someone she knows.... Reminds me I need to check if friend has paid her the £20. She did admit later that she won't let anyone else use it in future as not worth the hassle (probably of me moaning).

Phew @Piggywaspushed ! If you’re going to lose your phone and bank card, the last day of the holidays is the best day to do it surely?!! Ds has now managed to lose his second set of AirPods (cheap version this time) down some piping in the gym - you’d think he might have learned after the first time not to balance them on gym equipment?!

Great news @Seeline ! Dd also has rest breaks and small room but no diagnosis other than anxiety. I guess she’ll need to request the same at uni…

Grumpy dd is now with friends in Cornwall getting nails done prior to volunteering at the festival and no doubt being not at all grumpy! We’re trying to make the rest of the week decent for ds, so off to clamber over some rocks soon.. And maybe some dry slope skiing. He’s unhappy that apart from this Sunday he won’t have been at home for 3 weeks as he’s away next week too. But he loved last week on camp and is doing similar next week too, so much more interesting than home. He’s feeling a bit of FOMO that friends are doing stuff without him 😬

I can’t imagine my kids ever choosing to visit an English Heritage place @Monkey2001 (we were EH not NT!). Maybe when they have kids of their own?!

Oh no @Heifer 😬😬😬

They all need to learn that their mothers are always right.

Don't ever have card , phone, and Monzo card all in the same place, said I....

@Monkey2001 the three of them in year 13 (other one is in year 12) are having a gap year/not going to university with some vague hopes of the band recording more/having more gigs in places other than the local pub (although it is very good for music). They have recorded one song (available on Spotify!) and done about 5 or 6 gigs since last December.

DS knows he also needs to have some gainful employment as he needs to fund anything else he is doing. Not sure when I'll nag him next...

@Seeline glad your DD had a good experience with student support. DD had a meeting with her student support last week and was really impressed. They’ve prepared a support plan for her which is really comprehensive and sent it for review.

DDs on a European music tour enjoying herself, I’ve reiterated not leaving things unattended and taken copies of everything!

@Piggywaspushed and @Heifer Hope the lost items can be replaced swiftly

Oh blimey @Piggywaspushed. Good job you printed the boarding pass out. I hope he keeps his passport safe!

DS is working hard but had his first week's payslip yesterday. Loads of £££ so he's seeing the benefit of working! Off to Magaluf next week though...eeeekkk!

Loving gig stuff Miranda. Oh dear re lost phone Piggy, suppose last night is best. Monkey I love a good Trago, have frequented 2 many times.

Not posted recently on this lovely thread but wanted to say that I really enjoy catching up on everyone's updates and find it strangely calming to have a thread written by others (mostly) waiting for August 18 before we all collectively move onto the next stage. We are away on a three week holiday based in LA where we have family, which - whilst lovely (we normally visit FIL in Scotland and this has been a long planned and much postponed "big" holiday) - has its own challenges as we get used to spending abnormal amounts of time together and making all those daily decisions inherent in any sort of holiday where you aren't just on the same beach/resort every day. So drawing on some of the holidays-with-teenagers threads too! Both DD and DS (17) will be going away and doing their own things with friends when we get back, DD returning from France the day before results.

@crazycrofter this is what your DD has in Cornwall today - after an iffy morning it is perfect!

The DSs and GFs went to the gardens of the NT place, not the house, sharing places they have better memories of than we had realised!

@Piggywaspushed at least he hasn't lost passport! Hope he does not lose anything from banks.

I really miss visiting Cornwall, spent many a childhood holiday down there. We went the first summer after we moved up to the Wirral and after a 8 hr car journey with 2 dogs and a 3 yr old, said never again. We have actually been back since but only a couple of times. Have found the Llyn Peninsula almost as nice and only 2 hrs away.

So seems DD won't have learnt her lesson as the replacement Provisional Driving Licence has arrived already! only ordered it on Friday...

Enjoying hearing all the holiday adventures and plans, keep updating us, basically I've living through you at the moment :-)

Tomorrow we are off to Croatia - our twice-Covid-delayed 2020 holiday at last!!

Oooh, we loved Croatia - highlight was Plitvice National Park, but all lovely.

Is it just me or is anyone else thinking how quickly 5 weeks have flown by- despite the lasses/lads post A level holidays, piercings / tats and everything else our fabulous Corona Cohort have ‘indulged in’ since their last A level exam?
3 more weeks to go…😊

We are still in France - managed a stroll along the Canal du Midi today after almost no activity so far apart from swimming, reading and eating. It's too hot to do all the exploring we planned but we are loving this simple and repetitive life of relaxation. Just me and DH on the walk obvs, we were back before the DC got out of bed. Home in a few days - boo - and then off to Dorset camping for the weekend next Friday with lots of family, it's one of our annual meet ups. I have a bit of work on when I get back and then it will be results day and whatever follows and summer will be nearly over 😱
DD turns 16 soon and I have promised her a piercing of her choice - probably nose I think.

@Piggywaspushed When Ds1 got back from holiday I found his bank card & cash in the laundry. After it had been through the washing machine! Driving licence missing & has had to be replaced. Lucky your Ds did not lose his things earlier in his holiday!

Ds2 has got a summer job. I found the lead for him. It’s office based & potentially good experience if he decides to go for a financial sector job after uni. However, he’s not overly enthusiastic about it as, shock, horror, it’s full time. I hope he sticks with it.

He will have lost his driving licence too....

We’re off to Cornwall at the end of next week.
We've been going to the same fishing village pretty much every summer since DD was tiny, and after a couple of years’ Covid gap, it’s where both DCs wanted to go this year.
Hoping the weather is still good when we get there.

Not sure if there are any other bird lovers on this thread but I have just seen a hoopoe in the garden and needed to tell someone. I love a hoopoe.

Oh I love Trago Mills! We always seem to make a beeline for House of Marbles when in Devon/driving back from Cornwall too.