2017 seems so long ago, now they're fledgling graduates.

[latedecember1963]

4 years since A Levels and the wait for August and confirmation of where our chicks were about to fly the nest to.
It's been 4 years that has sprung a few surprises along the way, not least this lovely series of threads.

Are any of the vegan foods freezeable? If so maybe you can reschedule the relatives.

Oh no @Haffdonga! I’m no vegan, but they sound yummy

Merry Christmas everybody

Sounds like the making of a song. On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...six vegan dinners....

We made it down to the south coast with DD who is testing negative but sleeping a lot. The most exciting thing we could think of doing today was a bus into town and lunch at Five Guys. We have to be back for Monday as in-laws, in their mid 80s, have not heeded our Covid warnings and are in London staying with bil. Their choice, I suppose.

I wrapped up warm and had my coffee on the balcony this morning and was rewarded by this sky. Merry Christmas everyone.

Merry Christmas! Hope you all have a good festive season & COVID doesn't scupper too many plans.

What a lovely view Needmoresleep I'm envious! 🙂

Happy Christmas to all. My meal for 12 (rather 11 plus 3 week old grand child) went really and we all had a good time. First photo of me with my 8 descendants too.

On the vegan food left over butternut squash is quite nice microwaves with non vegan butter on it (and I am not vegan but I still like it).

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas without any more Covid cases. We’re at the airport ready to go skiing. Covid paperwork and testing all successfully done.
My parents and DH’s are staying at our house so cat and dog sitting whilst we’re away.

Very envious of the skiing . Still contemplating Ireland for new year but can't decide . Have an urge to visited my parents as a close friends fathe died suddenly yesterday and it reminds me inshodum try to visit them when I can

Had a lovely Christmas with all kids home so thankful for that .

Have a lovely time skiing, Parker!

We had a pleasant, if quiet Xmas. We got out for a good walk yesterday; DH and DD have headed off again today but I'm staying in as I seem to have caught my first cold for 2 years off DD. Pretty sure it is Just A Cold.

I hope the Parker skiing goes well and sorry about the Errol cold. We have not had them for about 2 years too so far. It will be interesting to see if some children around in these times end up like the locals when the Spanish took over South America (and any others with no contact with outsiders) who then suffered so much from colds and many other germs when in contact with the invaders. Or will it simply be that a generation of children will not have to suffer catching colds and they instead benefit from lack of them. i would certainly have loved to have a childhood without catching constant colds. My mother's "baby diary" about us children written in the 1960s is full of our and our parents' high temperatures, colds, coughs, antibiotics etc most of which were picked up from school.

I got the impression schoolkids (and their parents) have been catching colds pretty much as normal this year.

Now on to Happy New Year.

Lateral Flow tests have been bizarre. DD felt unwell for a couple of days, but then benefitted from Boris' early release by testing negative a couple of days in a row. The butcher had kindly given us the smallest turkey in the shop so it was not too scary, and a friend, whose Christmas plans were also mucked up because her NHS working daughter had got a positive PCR result without symptoms, came round on Boxing Day. Add in some bracing beach walks and binge watching a series of Mock the Week and it was a nice low key event. (Except why did DH go to Lush for his Christmas shopping? Did he not notice the pong. Or is he only capable of last minute shopping in our nearest train station.)

DD tested again the next day as we had returned to London to see her Grandparents who had travelled down to London seeming oblivious to the fact that the pandemic might affect them. As a big precaution, desipte us not having seen anyone except my friend who in turn had not seen anyone, DD tested positive.

DD and we are trippled vaxxed so assume it is a rogue result, and anyway almost 40% of peoiple in our area are not vaccinated and loads are currently infected so the whole thing, other than staying away from vulnerable people, feels a bit pointless. I am glad they are not adding more restrictions.

Slightly to our surprise, our New Year's Eve booking for the nice restaurant down the road seems intact, and the special menu price was reasonably modest, so we have something to look forward to. DD had a couple of work shifts lined up from her gap year employers, whch was as much about seeing them as earning, but these have been cancelled. Virtually all her friends have recently had Covid, so I am not sure if she will get any NYE invites. If not I might see if she can join us, though after 18 months at home during the pandemic, I think she has had enough of parents.

The big family meal sounds lovely as does skiing. The cold less so. I wonder what the longer term effect of social distancing will be on our immune systems. We are tentatively making travel plans this year. Lets hope they work out.

Hope everyone is surviving despite the trials and tribulations of covid We had a v quiet Christmas- just dh, dd and ds ( we have no other living relatives anymore anyway!)
younger dd has been working out in Bali since September and this is her first Christmas in a tropical climate which she said was v strange- although she and her colleagues all hired a villa with chef for Christmas weekend ! she's now off to Gili T island for New Year ( no vehicles other than push bikes) and so far has been scuba diving and seen dolphins on way over by ferry ...got to be better than a wet and wild Welsh New Year ( where we can't go out and celebrate anyway!)
One brilliant final piece of news for 2020 is that ds has finally got his contract this afternoon for his grad scheme with global bank ( fabulous starting salary and £5k bursary!) ...he doesn't start till mid August and at least he has a part time job to keep him grounded till then!
We're hoping to finally venture abroad next September ( holiday postponed from September 2020!) and hopefully we'll even be able to visit Bali at some point too!

Wow, that is brilliant news re your DS, and we'll try not to go too green thinking of Bali!
We also had a quiet time, but pleasant. DH took DD back to Cambridge today - they left at 5am, successfully avoiding traffic so he got back home by 12:30 - and retired to bed, unsurprisingly! She rooted through all our watersports kit and took back various items, as apart from the kayaking she's thinking of starting sailing again now she's got time.

I hope everyone has good NYE celebrations without any last minute positive Covid tests.

Congratulations on the job success - lovely end to the year.

Skiing is going very well. Everyone tested negative and 13 sets of skis and snowboards arrived with us (my main worry!). If anything there is too much snow - some nearby resorts have limited runs open due to such heavy snowfalls.
If anyone is concerned about booking holidays - don’t be. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how straightforward it has been. You need more time at the airport for documents to be checked and keep an eye on changes to entry requirements but 100% worth it.

Skiing sounds good.
Well done to the son with the banking job - those are very hard to get and he has done very well.

Happy new year to everyone. I had quite a busy work day today and a conference call so looking forward to the bank holiday weekend. My son's friends will be here in an hour or so for the NY dinner he is cooking for them, but as his twin has taken their shared car to got o his girl friend's parents over night I seem to have been roped in to collecting from the tube, taking them to Waitrose, collecting the second one etc.... when I was hoping to keep my distance from them in the house all due to covid risks never mind share my car.

Happy new year everyone! Wishing you and your families health and happiness in 2022.

@Stopyourhavering64 congratulations to your ds. Well done him.

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year - I hope everyone enjoyed their celebrations and is ready for 2022!

Happy New Year to All! Great news for your DS, @Stopyourhavering64 🙂

@Stopyourhavering64, congratulations to your DS! And your DD sounds to be having a fantastic time!

@Parker231, lucky you going skiing - enjoy!

Happy New Year to you all. We are all rather hungover here

@bigTillyMint - some major hangovers here. Having a late lunch to try and recover. Major snow storm overnight so plenty of fresh powder.

Happy New Year to everyone here and thanks for all the well wishes....I was absolutely delighted he got the job after a very rigorous interview experience ....( as was he!)
Thinking back 5 years ago to his A levels ,which were rather disappointing , he didn't get on to his first choice course and had to go through clearing and didn't go to a Russell group Uni
However Uni Dept is in top 15 in U.K. and course is known to help develop some very transferable skills loved by employers( Geography and Environmental Science) , including data analysis which is what he'll be doing in grad scheme - so just goes to show hard work and determination does pay off and playing to his strengths
Incredibly he'll now be earning more than me with more than 30 years experience in NHS! ....just needs to pass his driving test now!

Happy New Year, everyone! 🥂
Glad you managed to get away, Needmoresleep. The sea is so soothing for the soul.
We've never tried skiing, but it sounds lots of fun. Ski Sunday will be making a return before long and I love watching people hurl themselves down mountains on thin planks as well as admiring the gorgeous scenery.
Congratulations to your DS, Stopyourhavering. Fabulous news! 🍾
DS2 is still working on the elusive job offer, but he keeps plugging away and he'll get something eventually. He and DH are having a bit of a standoff about the correct way to load the dishwasher but it's the 1st tension in 6 months. I'm keeping out of it!

Well done to Havering DS. You must feel so proud/relieved.

A few of DDs friends have spent months writing job applications, before finally landing something. They all did, indeed one, from a non RG but a well regarded course, has a place on a very sought after National Graduate scheme. Perseverance and resilience see to be important qualities when making that first step.

DD saw the benefits in almost certain employment that comes with medicine. However some of her peers, especially from her central London private school, have landed big jobs in the City etc and are already buying their first properties. She has 18 months to go, then competition for a suitable foundation training then more exams and competition for training in her preferred specialisation. It will be years before she is settled.

She is stuck at home as she is waiting on a lift on Wednesday morning rather than rely on the chaotic train service. We were going to return to the coast but we decided to stay in London with her, not that we did much. DD and DH went out on New Years Eve hoping to see some fireworks and to hear Big Ben bong, but were put off by drunken crowds. Then last night there was a rave in a building nearby, a former student hall that is being converted back into a huge single family dwelling. It was almost finished and was on the market for an 8 figure sum. Someone will not be happy.

A sincere hope that everyone and their families has a good new year, and that life starts returning to normal.

Medicine is a good choice. My sibling until last month (retired at 55 from the NHS last month) was an NHS consultant and despite retirement has lots of private work etc still going on, had a good career. It took him longer to qualify than those in some other jobs but it pays off in the end. It was the same with my doctor father (also an NHS consultant) but in his case he read physics first at Durham for 3 years, graduated and THEN began to read medicine at Durham (in those days it was Durham University but you studied in Newcastle) and with doing exams after that (he was a psychiatrist) ended up doing exams to age 30 just before I was born, before becoming a consultant. My mother says she kept him from her teacher's wage for many years and indeed they put off children for nearly 10 years to buy a house first etc. Medicine can be a long haul.

Law is 6 years to qualify for solicitors if you read law first and 7 if you don't, although you do get paid in your last 2 year. before you qualify. In fact some people are a paralegals for a few years too which makes it even longer. However it remains the case that over time it does not really matter that it took a long time to get started in these professions in my view. A career is more a marathon not a sprint.

One of my sons was saying he was sick of exams when friends are now nearly 2 years into graduate jobs but my 2 just need to hang on until their June law exams and then it is all done forever in terms of exams (assuming they pass and as no one is up yet and it is 11.40am and their main exams start on 10 January I hope they are doing enough work.......).