Thread 51 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Summer 24 - End of Uni Yr 2

[Oblomov24]

2024 Summer, end of year 2 for those at Uni.

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.

Previous thread 50:

50

It's freezing here again today.
I'm trying to fight the urge to turn on the heater.
I think ds's exams are going ok I think.
The first three were easier than expected. The fourth was harder, so I asked him whether he thought he'd done ok in it & he said yes. So that's fine.
Left him very bleary-eyed this morning at school for his morning exam. He wanted a ham n egg sandwich but no eggs! So he had ham n melted mozzarella 😂
I'm exhausted too as was awake at 5am. Plus trying to wake ds up multiple times was tricky this morning.

Sympathies @cantonet! I'm so happy not to be having to wake ds anymore, although I do have to leave before 7.30 on 'work in the office' days unfortunately! I wish ds' exams had all been afternoon ones - he had 3 afternoon and 5 morning. School rang in a panic for every one of his morning ones as he was late! He just isn't a morning person. This week and next he's working at Tesco 12-9, which means he can get up at his preferred time of around 10.30. He wants to try getting earlier shifts though after his holiday so that he has more of a day to do stuff. He suggested 6am starts, which I think would be torture for him, and he'd probably just come home and nap! 9am would be much more sensible and a challenge enough....

@blinkbonny my Ds would love to swap with your dd. Most of his mates are 6' or more. I know it's not so bad being a tall man compared to a woman though. Ds looks like a small child walking next to them.

Woken up this morning at 5.15 by a hysterical 19 year. I thought she's been attacked or something, but no she couldn't stop crying. And she hadn't slept. Her boyfriend had gone off because he couldn't cope. But she really wasn't making sense. I talked to her until she'd calmed down & then she said she was going to sleep.

Then I got a phone call to say our dog was on the road from the BT guy he bit last week🙄 I've no idea where she escaped from. But they've been noisy since 8am & I suspect she went to have a look 😣

My son is back in Leeds after a week at home. He was playing in Manchester with his band Friday night - I went to watch but dh didn’t come as he had food poisoning. Then yesterday he played with his band at an open day for his friend’s uni which is a bit different as only 3 of the 5 members of the band study there but I guess a lot of students have already gone home.

Hes playing for a theatre show in a couple of weeks then he may come home. He & his girlfriend are planning a holiday.

Hope your dd is ok @cantonet, where is she at the moment?

Sounds like your ds and his band are getting plenty of work @Comefromaway

Mine has gone down to Sussex to finish emptying his house. He sent me a text to say he is going on holiday with his mates next week and that one of his mates will collect his passport from me. He won't tell me where they are going. No idea why the big secret. I'm glad he's going to fly somewhere with his mates, as his flight to Australia on 2nd July would be his first time on a plane. So to do a first flight with mates is a good idea.

He just said he will be home weekend of 22nd June. He's still not started getting stuff ready for Australia. He blocked me for sending messages suggesting he takes photos of his room in his house in Sussex as he leaves. The rest of his housemates are staying until end of August. I can see us losing the deposit. Ds will be paying £179 a week until the end of August for the Sussex house. Plus similar each week at the university in Australia those 2 months as well 🤦‍♀️

@crazycrofter I'm not sure. I think she's sleeping at the moment. I've asked ds1 to go to London & check on her. Dd1 is on nights tonight but I will maybe ask her to travel to london tmrrw. She's not awake yet though. Dh is away & ds2 has 4 a levels this week.
Apparently she's had 4 episodes over the last 2 weeks I didn't know about. Last night was the worse & lasted for 3 hours. She wasn't making sense at 5.30am either. They had been drinking with their friends but were home by 11pm.
To me it sounds like a seizure & that she was semi-conscious. She started feeling bad her boyfriend said. He's calling it a panic attack. She curled up in a ball & said she couldn't breathe. He was trying to straighten her out & I think she was confused, angry & non-cooperative.
He was so upset that he left her alone 😭

You must be so worried Cantonet; I hope you are able to get to the bottom of what’s wrong quickly.

@Cantonet that must be so concerning for you. I hope you get to the bottom of what's going on quickly.

@icanbewhatiwant hope your DS has a good time at wherever he ends up!

Oh no @cantonet, that sounds really worrying. I hope you get to the bottom of what's going on. She's not had anything like that previously?

Hope your ds' holiday goes well @icanbewhatiwant . My ds is also going on a plane for the first time with friends next week (only been once with us, years ago!). It's one area of life I'm no help with, as I don't really know what he needs to do/take! But I'm glad he's doing it with friends before going out to NZ solo next Jan. Dd has managed to work it out and I think she's probably been on a plane more times in the last two years than I have in my life! She's going to Albania and Corfu next week and ds is in Morocco. It will be nice to have a quiet week!

I had only flown a couple of times before going to NZ by myself in my early 20s. One of the trips I did before that was to Corfu with a day trip to Albania, that was in 1990 just after the communist regime fell, we were very restricted in what we could see and do and I have never seen such poverty.

@Cantonet I'm so sorry about your DD, I'm glad you've got the others able to support you both.

DS had had another interview for summer work, really hoping this one works out but if it doesn't he has found some more volunteering he could do (does two days most weeks already).

@Cantonet I hope you can get to the bottom with your dd. Sounds worrying.

It's dh who won't fly, hence the dc's not going on planes. Ds1 went to Iceland in year 9 so he'd flown before setting off on his travels. Ds2 has been abroad to France and the Netherlands with school but by coach. He was due to fly to Madrid for a football tournament on 20th March 2020 Covid put paid to that. So he's not flown. I took ds3 to France with our village twinning group in 2019 so he has been on a plane, it was my first flight since 1995
I'd love to get dh abroad. His passport ran
out in 1981 I don't get on with boats so it makes it difficult. I think I'll have to just go by sea 🤢

@Cantonet You must be worried sick. I wish DD well and hope you get tot he root of what seems like a sudden surge in seizures.

Today we brought DS2 back home. End of 2nd yr hurray! I made sure i took photos of everything i could think of, although he said the landlord had booked a professional cleaner which they have to pay for. He has no idea when they might get their deposit, if they will get their deposit, and how much if any, they might get back. The lead tenant has left straight after their exams. I'm really annoyed with DS and given him a good talking to about the value of money. In my day, the landlord came round on moving out day, did all his checks and just handed back the deposit either in cash or by cheque.

Anyway, he's off on a surfing holiday with school friends for a week from the 22/6 so that should be fun. It's nice to hear him and DS1 whispering or sharing a joke in the corridor again. DS1 who is very very introverted loves his brother's company. I think he's only person that makes him do a belly laugh.

@Cantonet Oh no, how worrying! I hope that things improve.

All well here. Following on from a page or so ago, I was going to type that neither DS nor DD were in a serious relationship, but DS seems to have acquired a girlfriend.

I had a Father's Day card from DD which made me smile. Here I am (left, looking at the rules) with DD (centre) and DS (right; he has the longest hair of the family!) playing a boardgame together.

That's a great card @PhotoDad !

One of DD1’s school friends is getting married! It feels like they are so young.

@cantonet You must be so worried, I hope all is OK with your DD and you get to the bottom of what is happening.

Please can I remind everyone to reiterate the risk of spiking to their DCs. DS believes he was spiked in Nottingham last week on a night out. He has at least three hours he cannot remember at all and apparently made his way home on his own but doesn't know how. His house mates say he was vomiting multiple times at home and had vomited in his sleep which terrifies me. He is not one for being sick even when drunk. He had called a friend on the way home (which he doesn't remember) and was talking nonsense to him and dropped his phone (according to friend) at least five times. His friends he was out with said he went from being sober to out of it very quickly but I think boys just don't think abut spiking in the same way girls do. Anything could have happened to him. His friend had bought him a drink when he already had one and so he left it on the table and came back to it later, he thinks this was where he was spiked.

I’m so sorry to hear that Justhere. Hope he’s ok now.

And absolutely to all DC keeping their wits about them. A predatory twat head targeting their victim is not always gender specific and boys are totally at risk too.

That is scary @JustHereWithMyPopcorn I hope your DS is ok.

Sorry to hear that Popcorn.
Hope you find resolution for dd Cantonet.

Ds1 is finally home. Washing and packing for Camp America. He's cooking for us tonight. We had a lovely walk round VW Lake and I let him drive my car home, because he hasn't driven for ages and wants to drive in the US.

That's scary @JustHereWithMyPopcorn
Hope everything is okay @Cantonet

DD was home for 5 days and is now in Ghana for 5 weeks. DS has been backwards and forwards but I'm going to bring him and his stuff home on Wednesday. We're going to go and have a chat with the year abroad team about the potential for a year out before his year abroad. I think it would be a good idea and some days so does DS. He won't have a choice if he has resits (a strong possibility) as French uni starts before Nottingham resits. The uncertainty of it all is not good for his MH (or mine)

@Cantonet Hope your DD has had a better 24 hours.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn What a dreadful experience. I hope he reported it to the police. There seem to be favoured haunts of these malicious idiots so it might help identify a pattern. DS's male flatmate was spiked last year.
@PhotoDad Love the card.

Picked DS and all his stuff yesterday. He's been in the labs a lot this past fortnight and enjoying the end of term socialising. One of his mates is on a placement next year so he felt like he was saying a proper goodbye already! Didn't get an interview for a paid lab role down here which surprised me as it was minimum wage, out of small town (of low skilled workforce) and only 8 weeks, even said would suit a second year student but apparently lots of applicants. Got a Zoom interview tomorrow for a volunteer role which I think he would love. but going to leave him very poor.

I'm so sorry @JustHereWithMyPopcorn what a nightmare.

Well, DS didn't get this job either, he's getting a bit disheartened now. There's not much seasonal work round here and he wouldn't cope with hospitality work (too fast moving, too many things happening at once). He's going to concentrate on his driving (not having a licence is a bar in his preferred type of work) and volunteering while he keeps looking. He's had two interviews out of four proper applications (as opposed to speculative emails which haven't yielded anything) which isn't too bad a ratio.

ED that's a great conversion rate! Bodes well for the future. So many young people seem to be getting radio silence.

DS would like experience in a role related to his degree. He's concerned he'll be seen as having a narrow focus with all work to date being sports coaching.