Heading towards year 2 exams (uni 2017)

[brizzlemint]

Starting uni 2017 continued.
Tales of radiators, errant boilers, tomatoes and potato mashers...oh and university students.

Glad most people's exams were okay.
My twins are driving back from Bristol on Friday morning and then we go on holiday. I just booked one an earlier flight back (same day as we return) so he can drive to a party the day we return. I hope the party is worth the extra cost I have paid out today. I think he got the last place on the earlier flight home so was very lucky to get it.

Xenia that's the sort of thing I would do 😃. We are going on holiday with DD and her partner a couple of weeks after she finishes. We considered going a week early ourselves and then letting them join us. I have no idea why we didn't do that. I could really do with a good break.

I think as all 5 children are making the effort to come on holiday letting him leave a few hours early is fair even though the rest of us are lumbered with the later flight. Also the twins did have a party (a big 21st of a friend) mid holiday week they aren't going to and one of them even had his housemates away our same week abroad and couldn't go on that either - the one week of the year we are away seems to have coincided with everything (including a big case (work) I would have got this week had I been around next week). |It is obviously the worst week of the year to take off.

That sounds like the perfect compromise, Xenia. My mum struggles with the concept that our lads have their own plans and commitments and that we have to fit around them occasionally. Give and take on all sides makes for a harmonious life. I can still remember how it felt to miss out on things that my friends were doing because my parents would just decide that I couldn't go.
DS2 came home last night and is home until early next week when he'll go back to get his results. He's going to see his Oma later and catch up with a couple of friends who are already home for the summer. It's lovely to have him home.

That's very definitely the only way to go if you want adult DC to come away with you - they're old enough to make their own way either to or from wherever I am so I've always done the same thing. They just ping in and out according to other plans and commitments. It's a nice phase of life.

Come to think of it, even the 17 yr old is arriving late this year, leaving for a festival in the middle and then leaving early :)

I agree, Goodbyestranger. I'm really enjoying this next stage with our children.

Occasionally I'd like them to be less independent though. DS2 who's just finished the GDL exams and has a six week lull before the LPC came home three days ago and on day#2 asked if he'd remembered to tell me he was off to Columbia next week (cue hands covering eyes, suppressing worst scenario thoughts and then saying no, you forgot (very very standard for DS2)). Anyhow he should now be on his way to a vaccination clinic in London which is my contribution to the excursion. I have asked him to message me his results when they come through but we'll see.

Yep, ita re adult DC popping in and out of our arrangements. We just do our own thing and they are welcome to join us if they wish.

DS1 is currently home for a few days but the event he came home for has been cancelled due to the bad weather we've had. Nice to see him though 😊

DS2 is coming home at the weekend, complete with all his stuff...

Our compromise seems to be the otherway round. DDs lectures dont finish till the end of next week. Then we go to see the final stages of the football world cup in France. Her choice, though her dad is also happy. Then back to move flats, which sounds fun as another girl and her mum have volunteered to help with the clean, with other flatmates agreeing to vacate a couple of days early.

Her brother is back from the US for a couple of weeks in August, and has invited his sister to join him in Paris, which is nice. Other than that, obligatory trips to grandparents and some volunteering at a residential camp, I suspect she will just chill. It has been a long year, and next year will be longer. We are also a bit overwhelmed (DH's work has been very impacted by Brexit preparations) so a staycation is sounding attractive. I've booked lots of theatre tickets, went to the Van Gough at the Tate yesterday and renewed my membership at the Tooting Lido.

We still seem to have to organise ourselves around being logistical support for DD. DH will fetch her and all her stuff (unless she can persuade her college to let her leave some there) in a couple of weeks time. Then a fortnight chilling - hopefully will do some walking etc with her - and then the plan is I take her back there for her summer job, and serendipitously my boss will be over visiting our U.K. office on the science park at the same time.

Then DH will repeat the process in September when we have a holiday with her booked - just a week in the Peak District which we've weirdly hardly been to, it's just a little bit further than a day trip. She said she didn't want to go abroad or anything involving significant travel.

I was just talking to one of mine - they are back tomorrow. One of their houses is doing their own cleaning and his house is paying someone but they also need to pay someone to open the house for the cleaner as they will all be gone by then so I hope that works out.

At least I don't have to move any stuff as they have the car. One is worried about transporting the house TV home for the summer as no one else can take it but I suggested back seat with a duvet round it should keep it safe.

Now he needs to find the missing Easter ski gloves - one for him and his friend which one boy says he doesn't have. I suggested searching with permission the other boy's room in hish ouse as one of them definitely said they had picked the up. If we don't get it back by tomorrow I am sure it is lost for good.

What I have found with the older adult children is we have to book the holiday about 7 months in advance and then 4 people fix their annual leave and clear work holiday with colleagues well in advance but in university holidays so the twins can come too. When the youngest grandchild starts big school in a year or so we will be back to school holidays only again. So won't have had a single year since I started school in the 1960s when holidays have not been fixed by school or university terms.

Still not got a collection date for dd1 yet because it depends on her practical stuff but between 12 th and 19th of July I think.
On a positive note dd2 has finished her last A level exam today.

It's quite a job juggling all the diaries, isn't it?! We are all doing our own thing this summer- DD is currently having a great time travelling and DS is up to stay with his gf at her uni. DH are summer holidaying on our own for the first time in 20 years

We are doing the holiday juggle as well, not helped by fact that DS1 starts his placement on 1st July and only has 23 days annual holiday and wants to spend any holiday he has at home seeing friends here.

At least the area is he working near is a very popular holiday area so DH and I plan to have a few holidays there over the year, do an Air BnB rent so that he can stay with us in the evenings whilst he is working.

Once he got his job confirmed he's told the employer about his dyslexia ( any job that he applied for and told them about his dyslexia at application stage he got tuned down for so he doesn't share it now) ....and I'm really impressed with the employer, their diversity and inclusion team are on the case and getting him sorted with what he needs.

@bigTillyMint DH and I are going to a wedding next week in Southern Europe - 1st time away on our own for 20 years . We do only get 4 days on our own as DS is joining us for weekend after his last exam next week as he wants to see his relatives before a year of work.

DD called - her last exam went better than she'd expected, she seemed pretty happy. She was off out to pick up some large cardboard boxes from a nearby shop which was saving them - this is for boat building, not packing. The only other material allowed is duck tape. When purchasing it from a local hardware shop she got 'you know you can't fix everything with that, luv' ... poor chap, how was he supposed to know an engineering student could be cunningly disguised as a small teenage girl?

So, she's probably going to be swimming in the Cam this weekend.

DD's final exam is over. Ball tonight. Packing up her house tomorrow. Then she's home 😁.

@Eve, we have been away on our own, just not for a long summer holiday!

We have booked a big family holiday for the end of August, involving uncles and cousins. Now dd is worrying she might not be able to go if she has to re-take that disastrous exam that had her classmates in tears.

I don't know what to say, don't want to make feel worse. I can't really reassure her, I have no idea what will happen. The uncertainty is hard to deal with.

FF, hopefully she will have passed or she could fly back just for the exam for the day or something like that if that would work or come to the holiday late. I suppose it depends on the timing.

My 2 had said they would be here at noon but now it is 4pm so I ma not holding my breath it will even be that.

Faith...good luck. Last year we were sitting in a cafe in a tea plantation high up a hill in Asia when DD heard she had passed so would not need to rush back. Big relief. Quite a few of DCs friends over the years have had their summers ruined.

She should find out key dates, like when results come out, then hope for the best and plan for the worst. Like, say, revising early and then just returning for the exam.

We've just been to book DS2's plane ticket to Adelaide. It might be 10,000 miles away but him being at the university feels a safe way to go and explore the world.

I thought of you, Needmoresleep! DS1 is a "Oh, did I not mention...." person so I know that 😯 feeling only too well. He also tries to get me to pass on the news to DH. My usual response is that if he's old enough to do something, he's old enough to tell his dad.

Thanks

The results come out in mid-July and the exam would be in August. No rushing back, thank goodness. I am thinking she could join us after she does the exam. It's not the type of holiday that would be conducive to revision.

At this stage, I'm just planning to keep my mouth shut and fingers crossed.

I'm getting a bit jealous of all this talk of holidays. Both DDs are going away but no plans for me or DH.

DD1 has been coxing for her college this week. Her boat was the most successful so she was happy, although the final outing was not as good as the previous ones (although not bad). She gets her exam results supposedly on Thursday, although this can apparently change. DH is collecting her stuff on Thursday and driving it back so she and bf can head off to Italy for a week. They are going from Cambridge to Heathrow directly.

DD2 finishes her exams on Wednesday and will be out and about partying and working until she heads off to Paris with her mates. I checked on the "who is in this week" and one night, I'm home alone. Strangely looking forward to being able to do as I please!