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

If DD does get her grades, her accommodation is allocated on the following Monday.

At the moment, no one may say the words ‘mattress topper’ ‘door wedge’ ‘clothes airer’ or even ‘Wilkos’ or ‘Ikea’ for fear of disconcerting the gremlins…

Just catching up after a long weekend camping in Dorset but very sorry to hear about your DD Wheres, that must be devastating for you all. I hope she comes back better than ever and even stronger mentally after getting through such an ordeal.

Feels like our summer of fun is kind of over here, back to lots of work tomorrow, DH has some sort of op on Wednesday (that he hasn't actually asked anything about so we have no idea other than cardiac and probably only one night in hospital so he reckons maybe a stent - why do some men not want to ask even the most basic questions of medical people ) and then the highs/lows of both A level and GCSE results And then DS either devastated or (gulp) leaving home.

@EquallyDivided DS1 had all his kitchen stuff in an underbed storage box which was rarely used, but there if he needed it. Most used is a small wok, saucepan and wooden spoon, and he has a couple of plates and bowls, sharp knives and roll up chopping board, cutlery for 2, some foil trays in case he wants to bake anything (which he forgot about - when I was packing up his room with him he said that would have been very useful when he and a friend made a fish pie which had to be a fish pile because they didn't have a dish!), measuring spoons, bottle opener (very important!) some mugs so he can give us tea when we visit and tea towels, I think that is about it. When self catering next year he is planning to live on stir fries.

Hi everyone!
still in my island paradise with my DH while DD2 is on a dive boat about 100mikes to the north, DS1 ans DS2 are at home killing - I mean looking after - our dogs and chickens and working at summer jobs and DD1 is being a grown up in London.

we get back on 17th…. Then have DS2’s results on Thursday 18th, DS1 goes in his year abroad to California on Mon 22nd, DD2’s gcse results a few days later… and then on 28th DD1 moves home for a few months (working from home) before moving to the USA in the new year. DS2’s ocean sailing adventure has been moved back by a month from Oct - Jan so he will now be away for Christmas. My chickies are all flying the nest! I must say it takes a LOT of brain bandwidth to keep track of them all and help with their plans. I expect November will be spent lying flat and enjoying the silence…

My top tips for organising for uni are don’t go within a million miles of IKEA, go to a huge sainsburys instead - they have everything and it’s much less stressful - and send them with a big plastic jug of some description which will make them very popular as it is used to mix drinks for “pres” and nobody else will bring one, apparently.

also buy a square plastic deep Tupperware and fill it with paracetamol, nurofen, lemsips, plasters, antihistamine, nail clippers, tweezers, condoms, hotel sewing kit, witch hazel stock, antibiotic cream (if you have some - I buy it over the counter whenever I go to US/Canada and a tube lasts at least 5 years!), vit c tablets and a vit D spray- and an emergency £20 note marked “for emergency use only”. Mine missed about it at the time and then said it was the most useful thing they had.

Moaned about it - not missed about it!

Ooh @Delphigirl I've done that. I feel organised now !I bought three cheap large plastic jugs for Dd birthday party for Pimms /squash etc.

I put one aside with a cheap plastic cocktail shaker for her , I've also sent her the Quizlet links for the Wetherspoons pitchers...
'purple rain' anyone?

Thanks all, we have already got an under bed box with non-food essentials from boarding last year which needs tweaking and topping up.

I had been thinking Sainsburys for kitchem basics too but ours isn't half as good for crockery as it used to be since they took over Habitat, it's all much more fancy / expensive now. Still ok for utensils though. There are some other things I want from Ikea so was thinking of going this week as I certainly won't want to go for the month or so after results day. I can go after work when it is quieter. Having said all that we've got quite a lot of capacity in our kitchen stuff so he could take a few of our older things.

Did anyone else get to the Commonwealth Games in the end? We got tickets for the
athletics on Saturday at short notice from a friend who couldn't use them and had an excellent day out. DS proved to be a font of knowledge regarding the smaller countries and their status, history, population etc

@Delphigirl i bought DD1 a first aid bag filled with thermometer and all sorts When she phoned ill one day o said to use the bag and she said ‘ what bag’ and could’ve find it! 🙄
Ill be much more laid back this time. There are shops in uni towns and you can order stuff online to be delivered to them.

Typos! Sorry .

Gold star for you, @CinnamonOrangeCremeBrulee !!

Loving the jug suggestion!! Ds doesn’t currently drink - out of interest are any other Dc on the thread non drinkers? I sway between worrying it’ll mean Ds might really struggle with uni socialisation and reminding myself that’s a normal thing in this peer group in a way in was not in mine ;-)

@Isthisjustnormal I don’t know any of either of my DD’s peer groups that don’t drink. Some drink less, some drink more .
I’m sure plenty don’t. They’ll probably be a society!

There’ll

Interesting @Benjispruce4 : a few in both my dc gang are either non or very very low drinkers. That said Ds has over recent months definitely become ‘designated non drinker’ at parties and specialises in interventions to get overly drunk mates safely home or to our house to sober up ;-)

@Isthisjustnormal - I have a non drinking DS as well. I thought he might on holiday as mini bar and pool bar were free but no. Kind of hoping he sticks to it for the most part. DH was a rugby player so drank a lot in his time and we will both have a drink when out but not very much at all nowadays. I will be interested to see how DS gets on at Uni re social stuff. He wants to do a lot of sports so that will be good for meeting people hopefully. Swimmers tend to be a close group.

Mine's a low drinker, he drinks Kopparbeg but just the odd one, he says he's only had two on the same night once. He's quite health conscious and limits his fizzy drinks too.

I love the Tupperware box and jug idea - will def do this!
Good luck to any Scots on here (why is there no good luck emoji?!).

I’m not planning to buy anything in advance for Ds. We are probably going to be moving him in by train…. Will look at getting the bedding package you can book through the uni, will take his clothes, laptop, etc in a couple of big bags/cases and buy some kitchen stuff when we get there. If he gets into Leeds, Dd has several friends there & I may ask if they have any stuff they want to pass on.

I can’t imagine he will do any elaborate cooking so may just need a baking sheet to heat things up!

I currently have a side line profession of running basic cooking masterclasses. Started off with just DD and now seems to have grown after each session, the last one being how to make a chillie to feed the 1000’s.

Tonight’s menu is chicken curry and daal.

Interesting about the non drinkers or not drinking much, just back from an AI holiday and both DC mostly drank water. We got our monies worth in food though.
I haven’t bought anything for DS going to Uni, mainly because we are so unsure of how it is going to go. DS may be taking a gap year but who knows.
All of it is getting very real now, hopefully this next week or so will whizz by.

Love the Tupperware and jug idea. Ds1 is a very low drinker. They all seem to be. Just me that drinks like a fishwife then?

I saw a post on wiwikau re Scottish results today. Someone got BCC instead of predicted AAB. They said that the trouble with Appeal is that it takes so long, clearing places this all gone. Which is true. If anyone of us, the grades aren't right, we're screwed.

Definitely not buying anything before results day. Don’t want to tempt fate!
Tbey don’t go until late September so plenty of time. I remember reading threads with DD1 which panicked me at times. There’s really no need, we have so many options these days with online etc. Am not ending up in Home Sense again as I did with DD1 selecting fancy cushions. 🙄

Ours barely drinks. She will have a glass of fizz at a celebration. She gets upset by drunken behaviour. I think it could be a problem.

DS1 drinks, but his uni best friend doesn't. DS2 doesn't drink (his body is a temple) and neither does his best friend, his GF is a very moderate drinker. I agree that there is a lot of drinking culture around Freshers in particular. Most universities have alcohol free accommodation but I think there is a worry that means fun free!

One of our very moderate drinking friends who went to Swansea in 2020 had a huge flat with several excessive drinkers who made it unbearable, and he ended up changing flats, then it was fine. They would throw shot glasses out of the windows and smash ceiling tiles!