Thread 48- Covid GCSE Cohort - Summer before Year 2 Uni

[Oblomov23]

Summer ending. Year 2 for many at Uni about to start.

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). 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.
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Charm is a very valuable and extremely underrated commodity. One can get far in life if one is charming so don’t worry about your DS @crazy!

I have a friend whose DS oozes charm, he has always done really well in finding work, friendships etc despite a bit of a bumpy ride academically at times.

I grew up in a two car family, which was fairly rare in the 70s/early 80s but my mum literally only drove to work and the shops in hers, rarely went more than 10 miles from home etc. Dad did all the long distance stuff (there was a lot as we lived on the south coast but families were in Yorkshire and Scotland also we regularly camped in the south of France with a trailer tent). I vowed not to be like that so learned to drive as soon as I could and immediately started to drive the length and breadth of the country. I tend to let DH do a bit more of the linger distance than me because he is a TERRIBLE navigator, its not so bad since satnavs were invented but it was horrific being navigated by him in the days of maps. Whereas I am a good navigator. DS takes after me and DD takes after DH.

I hate driving, don’t much like being a passenger, but I hate driving. We went for a little break this week and roads have got bigger than my brain can cope with, and everyone goes so fast. Hate that I’ve turned into one of those women who just drive locally. It will be a blue rinse next. Ours has gone off to her new Uni, a week early. I’m not convinced she will last till lectures start on 15th but Dh thinks we have at least 3 weeks before she boomerangs.

@Zebracat I have everything crossed for her and for you.

@Alsoplayspiccolo A first time pass seems quite a rarity. Well done! DS has his first test lined up for mid Oct but the instructor has told him that he is not yet test ready so we are trying to fit in 30 mins a day practice. @crazycrofter You're brave. I said I would take DS out when he had done 6 lessons so was not a raw beginner.

@ealingwestmum Don't become quieter! You always come across as kind and eloquent. I picture you as a Joanna Lumley - gracious and humorous with a touch of self-deprecation (not the same age though).

@EwwSprouts that is just so lovely! I wish, but I’ll take the compliment anyway ☺️

I can't drive with dh in the car. I'm a bundle of nerves. He literally criticises everything. He throws his arms up all the time too 🤷‍♀️ I'm never nervous any other time. Waiting at a junction if there's a bit of a gap and I don't pull out dh will say "why didn't you go?" If I do go it'll be "ffs why did you go in that gap?" with an arm throw too. I don't swear at all, so I hate him swearing. He used to tell me off for not changing gears correctly, but I have auto now, so he can't. Last time I drove he said "your driving is getting worse and worse" so I mostly refuse to drive. I used to pull over and get out if he moaned, then refuse to drive, but he needs glasses to drive now and if I start off driving first he conveniently doesn't have them with him.

@Delphigirl I wouldn't say I'm a petrolhead, but I do like a fast, sporty car. Not superfast though. I only have a bmw 1 series. But dh has a Porsche boxster gts 4 that's the fastest I've driven, he'd quite like a 911 but the prices are ridiculous.

Growing up neither of my parents drove. Dm started learning when I was 12. I passed my test before her though. She failed about 5 tests, then changed to automatic and failed a few more. She only has an automatic licence, but doesn't drive. Her second husband told me he was paying for driving lessons for her about 10 years later, she had them for a few months, but still didn't drive. Then she suggested driving lessons again recently, I told her there's no point 🤦‍♀️

We still need to sort out how DS is going to carry on with his driving lessons/practice. He has got his timetable now and and has booked in his DSA sessions. Last year they started out expecting him to book week by week and he didn’t cope with that at all, it was chaos and I had to intervene. So they have gone for regular slots and he will let them know if he needs to change, he is a bit better at it all now. He is going to speak to his driving instructor next week about whether he can make it work, I think he might come home a bit more often than last year - his friends here and hockey club still exert quite a pull and the weekends are pretty quiet, so he might be able to do lessons on long weekends and practice whenever he and I can meet (our driving test town is part way on his journey to uni whether that is driving or train, I could meet him at the station with the car).

As it happens, I drove 6 hours last night (including a 30 min food/fuel stop) after work to get to a friend's Silver Wedding celebration weekend, picking up DW from a station on the way (she's been in London for work). Now I'm up and awake before anyone else in the house!

DD made it to Cambridge by train mid-afternoon, collected key from rental agent, and moved into new house, 15 minutes walk from the art school and 5 mins from local shops. Room is small and was apparently pretty grimy, so she hit the supermarket for cleaning supplies and sorted it out before unpacking. One other new housemate there already, others arrive this weekend, and all is apparently "fine" (after some nerves). Fingers crossed!

Heading up to Newcastle today in 2 car convoy - DD is keeping her little car with her this year, as both hockey and cricket training are a schlep away when carrying kit.

in other news, one of the fly on the wall hospital documentaries is featuring the Cumbria site where she’ll do her first placement, so is now required viewing!

Exciting @kingscote! Hope it all goes well! Also pleased to hear that your DD is getting settled @PhotoDad
dd and I are making a full on 1970s Black Forest gateau for DS2’s birthday so there is a lot of chocolate grating and kirsch-tasting going on. Not really the weather for it - oof.

Ooh, great choice for a cake though! Yum.

I am sitting Billy no mates style with next 2 weekends of art open house for all that can venture to Ealing without getting a nose bleed. Either no one shows for hours, then it’s like buses. Usually when I’ve decided to pop to the loo 🙄

Black forest gateau. Yum. Ours is on her way home. She has a cold and feels homesick. And she forgot the wire that connects her desktop to the internet. I didn’t tell her it’s beetroot risotto for dinner. She will not be impressed. More of a UPF girl. There an ArtOpen House trail near us this weekend, but I’m too hot!

@Zebracat your intuition was right 👍
Big day today for my eldest. Starting her first vet job on Monday & moving to a new city & shared house. She's apprehensive ( although 24!) & it feels a bit like I'm sending her to school for the first time 😄 However she's donated her old iPad to me so there are benefits!
Yum to the Black Forest Gateau.

It’s a big deal Cantonet, I hope it all goes well for her.

Thanks for all the driving test congrats.
crazycrofter, your DS sounds like he has exactly what it takes to make his way in the world! My DS is pretty similar - teachers always like him, he makes friends easily…and has an uncanny knack of always being to seek out/be drawn to/create any high jinks that might be occurring.
Im embarrassed to admit that he only has to give me one of his cheeky grins when I’m trying to talk to him seriously about something, and I completely lose the fight.
He’s not a bad lad, as I’m sure yours isn’t, so a bit of spirit isn’t the worst thing they could have.

Could it be COVID, Zebracat? DD tested positive a few days ago, out of the blue - cold symptoms but she just felt it was more than that.

So impressed with piccolos driving ds. Love crazy's charming ds. Loving idea of Ealing as Lumley. That's how I see her too! Delphi that Black Forest Gateaux sounds divine - please indulge me and post a picture. Beetroot risotto Zebra, oh I've died and gone to heaven.

I am so enjoying having ds1 home. I have missed him. We all went to see a car Dh wants to buy, hybrid Mitsubishi outlander. Then to farmers market and bought some nice curry, chicken and also paneer. Then to M&S to get some white shirts etc for ds1's work next month. £176 later.... Dh is filling the paddling pool for the first time this year.

Sounds like a nice day @Oblomov23 !

@Alsoplayspiccolo they do sound very similar! They’ll be fine won’t they, I’m just looking forward to not having to speak to school about his lack of work anymore! Ds also has a love of what he calls ‘shenanigans’ 🤣 Last week he randomly mentioned that he’d bought a big Chinese flag and rigged it up on a flagpole in an Oxford college quad! He showed me the video too… He and his friends also visited Cambridge a couple of weeks back and spontaneously joined a language class for foreign students.. he introduced himself as coming from Nepal! He also has a habit of shouting things like ‘put down the gun’ in public - mortifying when he did it with me in Ikea recently 🤣

@Zebracat is she going back?! Maybe she just needs to come home regularly?

Shenanigans. and plethora. Two of my favourite words.

Hello all! just popping in to see what's going on. 29 degrees indoors here and just melting. Hope everyone is well and coping in this weather.
DS1 has started his new job and has been driving to and fro. DS2 started applying for Placements. That's all I can think of in this terrible heat.

I have been on a bike ride with DD because she wanted to do her PS reading by the sea. It was very hot. So now I have a red face and a sore bum 😣
I will be relaxing in front of the rugby for the rest of the day I think.

DS popped up to Nottingham for 24hrs this week to see one of his friends who is doing a semester in Malaysia, they won't see each other now until end of Jan. Have any Notts bods had an email about registering? Or is that only for DC who are switching course?

Singing ds says he had to, you have to enroll for every academic year, he did it 3 weeks ago. There is a time deadline but he doesn't know when it is.

Thanks @Oblomov23
DS has had an email saying he will get an email asking him to register but he hasn't had it yet and it doesn't appear as an option on the hub. I will get him to chase on Monday.

First email said deadline is October the something but I think he should get it out of the way asap.

Well I have to say it may not look like much but the Black Forest gateau was absolutely DELICIOUS

Note the cream melting off the top 2 mins after piping it there because it is 32C here at the moment …

…off to find some cake. Need it NOW!