Thread 43 - GCSE Covid Cohort ..November 22 Remember Remember

[OrangeCinnamonLatte]

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results ( or life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). 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, uni vs employment please don't within this thread.

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. We were previously on the secondary board and then further education, now we shall be here in 'Parents of Adult Children' gulp

Our DS/DD may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed). Be warned there might be lots of 'Uni Freshers' chat this time of year. My experience is that everyone is welcomed wherever, whatever their child is doing we have some in work, gap years , apprenticeships etc too. Lots of contributors with different experiences and always sympathy and advice to be had

Previous Thread

DS finishes on 16th Dec

I think it’s 17th December (Christmas concert)

@Oblomov22 and other Rutlanders - I'll be the one looking a lot older than I did in September and very much in need of a drink🍷Those of you with DD/DS's in 39 week rooms can laugh at us going up and down two flights of stairs and loading our cars up before having to do it again four weeks later 😭

I was planning on DS just getting the train home?

DS almost finishes on Friday 16th but has a practical on 20th - I've told him he should come home for the weekend so that he doesn't have to watch the World Cup final on his own and I'll take him up for the day on the Tuesday to collect his stuff, but he says he's not going because he'll be all alone 🤨

Shame because I was looking forward to a walk around the bird reserve while he was chopping up brains 🦆🦆🦆

Maybe the prac is optional but I'm hoping they'll make it a three line whip.

(@omnishambles I think the Rutlanders may have to empty their rooms completely for the hols)

Technically DDs last day is Friday 16th Dec but she only has 1 hr lecture then and nothing the day before so I think it's likely she will come home on Wednesday 14th Dec.

I would have loved to met up with fellow Rutlanders but it will only DH going to collect as only 2 seats in his van. Luckily DD is on the ground floor pretty close to the entrance so not far to lug her stuff.

My good news is that I collected DD yesterday on the train and we had a lovely 3 hrs travelling back together. She was actually chatty and seemed happy to see me. Things seem to be going well for her which is lovely to hear. Workload is hard though, she is finding it hard to keep up with attending (or listening) to lectures. Seems slightly less on her timetable for the next few weeks (17 hrs) so hopefully that will help. Friendship wise seems to be good, made some friends who whilst aren't studying Biology there is a lot of overlap and they attend some of the same modules. Also some hockey playing friends too.

Bad news is that as predicted she was late to the station and we missed our planned train, good news is that I predicted it and bought open ticket so it didn't matter but we did have to change trains. From her point of view, she really tried to get to the station on time, lectured finished at 5.00pm, went back to her room, went to dinner and ate dinner as quickly as she could, packed and left her room at 6.10pm and caught tram with her friend who was also going to the station, arrived at 6.41 to catch 6.44 train - nope doesn't work. I had asked her to be at the station for 6.30pm at the latest. I assumed she would skip dinner and catch an uber. From her point of view she could have caught that train because she could have sprinted - I could not for that distance (especially as still chesty) and it left with quite a few of us rushing towards it. Also the ticket man held us up because I had already scanned my ticked in whilst walking around the station earlier trying to find somewhere decent to sit for an hour or so.. She just can't seem to factor in unexpected delays into her schedule... But I didn't nag too much, just explained that things always happen and you should always be somewhere 15 mins earlier....

Her boyfriend (not boyfriend) picked us up from the station (she did ask if he could come around being inviting him). I suspect she will stay in bed until early this afternoon. She is meeting school friends over the weekend so I may not get to see much of her but I got my fill on the train so all good :-)

@Monkey2001 would love to know if that works. The slim pod thing. I am not very overweight, but find it so hard not to eat chocolate and other sugary things I shouldn't eat. About 8 years ago I cut out sugary stuff for 6 months or so and lost almost 2 stone. I kept it off until this last year. It's slowly going back on again 😞

@Zebracat i think in reality childhood trauma can be a disability/handicap throughout life - it certainly has been for my dh. But it’s not officially recognised as such and there’s no help or support provided, so your dd has to be realistic about the fact that she needs to work towards finding coping mechanisms. And she may need to be realistic in future and not make job/accommodation/life choices which she’ll find too difficult. You’re right that whatever option she’d taken this year would have been hard. And as the years go by hopefully she’ll find things easier.

Rutlanders - dd is planning to leave all her stuff in friends’ rooms in other halls. So she’ll just be coming back with clothes. I’m assuming the Thursday night is the last night they can stay in halls, is that right? We’ll have to work out when we can pick her up or if she’ll need to get the train.

@crazycrofter DDs contract says 17th Dec so I think she has to move out by then.

Thanks @Heifer that’s good - a Saturday is easier

<sits alone on the L&W bench> DS finishes on the 16th with his last lecture going on til 6pm. I'm really annoyed by his school who are doing the A level certificate evening on Thursday 15th so his choice is to miss the big school catch up presentation or to miss his lectures on the last day (possibly two days) of term.

Oh that is annoying @JustHereWithMyPopcorn . DS has been very fortunate in that his certificate evening is next week, in reading week.

TRain strikes cancelled. Ds has already bought a ticket to go back on sunday rather than monday though

@Comefromaway where did you hear that? I heard on the news just now that strikes are on Saturday and limited trains Sunday. Ds is travelling home Sunday so i hope he can get a train.

He's on his way home now, but a long way away still. I was like a child on Christmas morning when I woke at 5am and remembered Ds was coming home. I couldn't get back to sleep. He's requested beef stew for dinner. I reminded him he's now a vegetarian...he said but he wants stew 🤣

@Comefromaway found it now thanks. You were ahead of the news on the radio.

DD finishes on Dec 9th, as she doesn't need to be there for "exams week" (all coursework). Need to nag her to buy a train ticket! She's having dinner with friends tonight, I believe they've all contributed.

Hi all,
Sorry I'm neglecting you. I'm on wind down period at work.
I can't believe how much work leaving creates, not to mention all the people that keep sending me their last minute work to do . I'm trying to hand over but some stuff is so inherent I don't know what others don't know. It's a flipping nightmare ...After 19 years one week to go Eeek.

Dd on the train home now. It will be nice to see her. I might get us Chow Mein and watch Hocus Pocus 2.

Sorry to be neglectful.

DD finishes 3rd December but I won’t be able to collect her and her stuff as will be crazily busy at work.
Shes going to send stuff home via courier in the last week or so and leave herself with just a suitcase to lug home on the train.
She’s half way through her first term and is finding the work load more manageable than she’d first envisaged.
Her weekly essays haven’t resulted in a ‘roasting’ in her tutorials as yet so she is hoping it stays that way until end of term 😂

DD finishes on the 16th - I think she's going to bring a fair bit home so will probably need to collect her. Term starts back on 17th January but goes straight into 2 week assessment period - none of her modules have exams so nit sure when she will want to head back. She could be home for 6 weeks!!

Ds2 is coming home for a few days next week. I’ve just been doing an online grocery shop - and adding in all the stuff he likes that I haven’t bought for weeks! I wonder if his tastes will have changed?

He's home 😃 It took almost 5 hours. He said I'm not doing that again. Perhaps try bus London next time. The funniest thing...his 13 year old brother is now taller. Ds said I've only been gone 8 weeks, how can he grow that fast.

Ds was actually at Leeds rail station when he texted me about the strikes being cancelled.
turned into a nightmare due to an incident on the track. He got back an hour late for his rehearsal.

That should have said try via London next time.

DD seems to finish on the 16th, or maybe the 19th; yes that’s a Monday. Her termtimes are a complete mystery - she has three weeks off for Xmas and two (two!) for Easter and the summer term ends either ridiculously early or ridiculously late. Anyway we’re picking her up on the 20th and visiting the in-
laws (staying in a hotel) before coming home. I cannot be doing with the M5/M6 junction three times in three weeks so we’re combining things.

She appears to be in the library at the moment 🤓 Meanwhile I’ve only just noticed the flags over the road from the library are the CSI flats for the forensics courses, which I find fascinating!