Another path ....... the journey begins

[chopc]

Hello @321zyx @AvocadoPlant @bendmeoverbackwards @BigWoollyJumpers @Braveheart35 @calculatorqueen @ChimneyPot @Dobbyisahouseelf @Eastisup @jano69 @Majaso12 @MidLifeCrisis007 @NCTDN @Notagardener @OnTheBenchOfDoom @Parsonage63 @Pumpkintopf @Peaseblossum22 @quest1on @Peaseblossum22 @SATSmadness @SeasonFinale @Tenpastseven @Vargas @Xenia

Apologies for anyone I omitted to tag

@chopc. Yes the January exams are important and first year counts, I think it’s 11%. Lecturers are saying they need to know everything which is stressing her out and then there’s wider reading as well. Dh told her she can’t know everything so she seems to have decided now that she can’t after speaking to him, so I’m worried she won’t try to now.

@Majaso12 that was late to get back, you must have been tired. DS consciously decided to take a few days off from work when he got home as he felt otherwise he'd really burn out so today has been the first day he's been working. He's planning to work every day from now though for the exam when he goes back. I don't know what I expected for him workload wise but I didn't really think he'd have to be working over Christmas in his first year-perhaps naively.

Dd did end up working from about 11.30 until tea time today and then went out with school friends. Assume she’ll take Christmas Day and Boxing Day off. She has 2 exams in January and each one is over 3 hours long. I think both exams or the essay one at least has to be handwritten, then she has to take pictures on her phone of it and then it has to be uploaded and if it isn’t uploaded right, then the mark is capped at 40%. There are 3 essays in one of the exams, as well as questions and they only get 40 minutes for each essay which dd says isn’t long at all, so could really have done with being able to type it.

She seems to be doing well on her courseworks which is for the practicals and got her 3rd result back today. It’s the exams she’s more worried about though.

Dc1 came home on Tuesday. He has done some work since but not too sure what. He is in his final year.
Dc2 hm, don't think she has done much work but has been talking about going back next week already.

I am very happy that DD had all her exams before she came home and the all new subjects when she goes back so no work to be done over holidays.

Haven't been on for ages, just caught up with all your posts. DS2 came home last week 48 hours early, he rang to say a friend had just messaged him to say he had a positive PCR, so we got him home quick in case. So far (a week later) all good. He was lucky to get a booster before he came home, the hospital next to the uni was doing walk ins and he had less than an hour wait. He's had an email this week to say Jan exams have been moved on line. (Two three hour exams and a two hour one). My DD is at uni Scotland, and registered with a GP there, which made her booster more problematic. She couldn't use the national booking line in England, but could use a walk in. She was in and out of the centre last Saturday in half an hour.

Dd has exams in Jan and also an essay due. She was poorly for a lot of the term so I was hoping she could get some real rest , I could feed her up and she would have the chance to recharge her batteries over Xmas . She had a few days off to recover (as we brought her back with yet another bug) but has been doing work every day since. Feel a bit sorry for her tbh- I think exams after Xmas is a bit rotten!

@raspberryrippleicecream glad your Dc managed to get boostered .. there appears to be more walk ins popping up now . Hopefully all our dc will be sorted before they ( if they?) return in Jan

DS1 and DS2 have exams in Jan, so lots of revising going on here. Just a warning if things are online. DS2 had a nightmare with a maths test worth 30%. He used the camscanner app to take the photos and collate it into a pdf. He had used this many times before during 6th form. Unfortunately he kept getting an error message but it didn't tell him initially what it was. 20 mins past the deadline he worked out that there was a lack of storage on his mobile. He sorted it but it was too late. His mark will be capped at 40% when he actually got 75%. Exeter tried to be as helpful as they could but he hadn't got any evidence to support his claim. So if anyone has any problems be ready to take screen shots, so you at least have a timed piece of evidence. As if things weren't difficult enough without the nightmare of technology going wrong! On a more positive note he received a letter from his 6th form to say the he has received the trustees prize for history. Anyway have a lovely Christmas everyone!

@Longtimenewsee I agree with you! Especially in first year - they've had a lot to get used to and the workload seems immense.

@calculatorqueen what a nightmare. Thanks for sharing that experience.

I really hope unis can keep going with what they currently have face to face...

Merry Christmas all of you lovely people and your lovely DC. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day tomorrow whatever you're doing ☺️🎅🏻🎄

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

How times change - DH and I awake, all the DC still sleeping!

Merry Christmas all 🎄⭐️🎄

@AvocadoPlant . Yes- same here. It’s just me and the cat! 😁
Merry Christmas to all

Happy Christmas everyone.

Thank you for all your wonderful tips this year they have all been invaluable.

Hope everyone managed to have a lovely Christmas day. We did. In fact I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

FIL has now tested positive on LFT this morning on a nasal test, twice. Arse. He was negative yesterday as were we and all our other family members.

As is traditional in our house I was eating a chocolate orange for breakfast with a cappuccino so now have to wait to test.

Eek @OnTheBenchOfDoom - how are you?

@Pumpkintopf we have all tested negative. But if FIL was positive at some point on Christmas day then this is the closest we have ever been to covid. We were all at his house together in his lounge for 5 hours. We will be testing ourselves again probably Thursday as we don't want to burn through the tests we have and the internet seems to suggest 5 days incubation.

FIL was completely asymptomatic so was in shock at the positive LFTs which he took because he was seeing his brother on Boxing Day but today has woke up with a sore throat. He had a PCR yesterday so we are just waiting for that to come in.

All our plans for today for seeing people over the next couple of days have been cancelled as a precaution and can be rescheduled but Ds will be back at uni. I am most worried about SIL as she is not in the best of health and tends to have lots of respiratory issues anyway and she spent far longer with her Dad than we did as they have Christmas lunch together.

We are just taking each day as it comes. I am very much a glass half full type person.

Sorry to hear about your FIL @OnTheBenchOfDoom and pleased the rest of you are negative

@OnTheBenchOfDoom hope your FIL is ok and the rest of you stay negative.

We all managed to get negative PCRs so are they n the Maldives. Very glad DDs uni has pre Christmas exams rather than after.

I am still checking in on this thread and glad everyone is doing fine. My twins (who are a few years ahead of your group) have January law exams (final exams for this main part of their law course) with less important ones in June so they have had that cloud cast over Christmas but at least we could get 12 of us around the table on boxing day with no covid in sight (well 11 of us eating the food.... plus the brand new baby, my 3rd grandchild who is just three weeks' old).

Sorry about those hit by covid. My twins are fairly lucky that they have exams until near end of Jan (and are living at home this year) so if there is any closure of their institution it will not affect them until seminars start at end of January. Hopefully we now realise education matters and will keep schools and universities open in January. I was pleased to see the press saying they will not ban weddings etc again nor bar husbands from childbirth again as they did before (my daughter's March wedding had to be moved to April with 13 guests and no party due to the total wedding ban even if you had no guests last Winter which was rather harsh)

Thank you, FIL is a fairly fit and active 74 year old. Daily walks of an hour sort of chap.

Maldives and Sri Lanka, just beautiful. It is a very gloomy rainy day here, so I am jealous of that sun, the heat and what can only be gorgeous scenery.

I love reading your updates @Xenia so I am glad you are on here especially as you are a couple of years ahead of us. I hope they do keep universities open for face to face with mask wearing, Ds2 is in year 11 so we have a feeling that year group at least will be in school.

@Xenia as always nice to hear your updates and news about your lovely family!

WRT Covid - I do believe we are at the end - everyone is getting it, mostly like a flu, we will develop antibodies and kiss the fear of Covid goodbye!

I am of course sorry for the minority who succumb to this horrid disease and I don't envy long Covid for anyone

Righty or wrongly, I have chosen to be in the "life must go on" camp ..... I am also OK for anti vaxers to keep their stance - but please keep yourself to yourself. I don't know if anti vaxers realise the reason they can remain anti vax is because the majority choose to vaccinate eg in the case of MMR, and they benefit from herd immunity

Onthebench that's good news, hope your FIL continues feeling ok and that you all test negative on Thursday.

Xenia congratulations on your new grandchild, how lovely!