Thread 44 GCSE Covid Cohort - Countdown to Christmas & New Year

[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

Yikes, black mould is not good, didn't see any of that in the show flat the other month .

Adding to my twisted knee (on the mend now), dd1 barged past me while I was hoovering the stairs and slipped down the bottom 3, landing on her backside on the stone floor. A bit winded at first and I was concerned for a while, but after an afternoon on the recliner under an electric blanket watching Glass Onion and eating lebkuchen she has recovered well enough to pace around the kitchen fretting about dd2 eating 'her' muesli. So I don't think it's life threatening...

Thank you for all the replies. She applied by the Oct deadline. Don’t know about rejections. Just know there are no offers yet. It is reassuring that others are in the same boat.

Thank you @mummyinbeds i normally go in that main entrance with the tiny bit of bus lane.

Oops - I completely fell off the thread!

I had a speeding ticket a few years ago. Was going 38 in a 30 zone but the sat nav had said it was 40. Was in a city I don’t know.
Very frustrating.

DS has already spent half his Christmas money going to visit his new girlfriend across the county, would much prefer he’d bought some antique furniture!

A question about driving tests - do you need to take the proof you’ve passed the theory test with you? Dd claims I’ve lost her envelope of important documents in our house move 😬 including her theory certificate. I’m sure it will turn up but her driving test is in February.

@Fiddlersgreen glad to hear he is no longer nursing a broken heart!

I don't remember needing the theory certificate, but did need the provisional licence. Makes no sense to need both as you can't book a practical test without paying the theory. In theory we needed proof of insurance (test taken in our car) but they didn't want to see it.

My heart skipped a beat then @crazycrofter as DD has hers soon and I've no idea if she knows where her cert is, so I googled and it says to bring it with you .. but also

If you’ve lost your theory test certificate
You do not need to get a replacement theory test certificate. Your driving examiner will check that you’ve passed your theory test before your driving test starts.
Phew

Phew! Thank you both.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn I wondered if I'd find heads-up distracting, but I like it. I have it set as low down the windscreen as I can. I really like it for satnav too. It beams directions on the screen that I can see. I can't see my satnav without glasses, but I don't need glasses to drive. But I can see the directions when on the screen.

@EspeciallyDetermined my car sort of snatches at the steering wheel of I go over the white lines. I think I'd prefer a beep as it always makes me jump, I need to hang on tight to override it. But I have learnt to indicate.

@PhotoDad enjoy your day out.

Ds2 text early asking me to keep messaging him to keep him awake, he said he's sleeping all day and wants to start getting me up. But he's not replying....I've even tried FaceTime.

@icanbewhatiwant you can only do so much at a distance- you’ve done your bit, so he really needs to put things in place his end too. He’ll get there!

Dd and ds were both still making noise last night at 2am 😩 but ds has gone to school and dd managed to get to her new job for 9.30, just about! She did forget the letter with the extension to ring, but hopefully they won’t hold it against her. Ds said on the way to school that someone he works with used to work at the place dd has started at and says the manager is a prick! I asked why and apparently she’s very strict. Dd could do with having to get somewhere on time though so that’s maybe not a bad thing!

@crazycrofter ds2 has always spent a lot of time asleep. I'm not going to try to wake him anymore. I'll leave him to it.

Ds is still on his own in his flat. He sent me a "with my housemates" video yesterday, he's filmed the kitchen table with the Danny devito cut out, his cuddly yoda on a chair, Henry hoover on another chair, a box with a face on and someone else's teddy on the other chairs 🙄

Ds3 reluctantly went back to school today and Ds1 is leaving for his NZ trip early tomorrow.

@Monkey2001 thank you, yes I’m relieved but also this new relationship has moved very fast!

I remember DS taking his theory certificate with him for the driving test but I don’t know if he had to show it or not.
As Monkey said you can’t even book a test until you’ve passed the theory so seems an odd requirement.

@icanbewhatiwant I love your DS silly personality. My DS’s are very serious (and grumpy) at least they are with us anyway

@icanbewhatiwant I liked the idea of it when I bought it but the reality is I'm too easily distracted. I don't think I can get my Satnav on there though? That would be useful I think. My car also has lane guidance which shoves me back away from a white line if I don't inidcate. I have also been experimenting with the whole 'drive for me' thing when going up to Notts and sitting in the miles and miles of 50mph roadworks on the motorway. It steers, speeds up and slows down and won't go over the speed limit. I just have to touch the steering wheel every so often. I don't really trust it so don't relax at all - it's more experimenting....

DS1 went to a private GP today as we haven't been able to get him seen at all under the NHS despite ringing every day. He now has a prescription for his chest infection. I don't want him going back to uni until it's cleared so hoping he'll be here for another week at least.

@icanbewhatiwant Your DS sounds fabulous.

I fear I drive a rather inferior car. I have a Citroën C1 with a wing mirror hanging off...

@Piggywaspushed I do like a nice car and I'm very fortunate to have one, it is only a smallish hatchback. We have too many cars as dh has small suv. Ds1 has a fiesta that will be redundant for a year as from tomorrow. Ds2 has a Corsa that will only be driven when he's home from university. Plus dh has a Porsche in the garage. That's his toy car. We seriously need to re think cars. I think we will sell ds2's Corsa. He can drive ds1's car when he's home. Ds2 is insisting he's taking a car to Sussex for year 2 though. But we will worry about that nearer the time. I don't want him to take a car.

@icanbewhatiwant Love the flatmate video!

DD and I had a soggy day at RSPB Leighton Moss in Lancashire. Not many interesting birds, but she was so happy to be in one of her favourite places! A few of her shots below.

@crazycrofter I can definitely confirm that DD didn't need to take her provisional cert with her for her driving test today.... she passed :-)

Now looking into insurance - crikey what a stinker. We are tempted to just add her as another named driver on DHs policy for now as she will only drive whilst home so 2 weeks Jan & then all of April. His policy runs out in May so we may look around then. I just don't want to pay for 12 months for her when she won't be driving that much.

Well done to your dd @heifer, that's great! Not looking forward to the insurance costs either 😫 Thanks for confirmation about the certificate.

Well done Heifer dd 🚗

Congratulations, Heifer DD!

Great news heifer.

Has anyone had any dealings with Camp South Africa? DD is really keen but I don't like the idea of her doing it on her own.

Well done @Heifer DD! When DD passed we insured her as a named driver on my car. It seems to work out as most weekends/evenings I don’t rely on it. Such a relief for her.

Congratulations @Heifer DD!