Thread 53 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Happy New Year 2025 to our fab young people

[Delphigirl]

New thread! Looking forward to traversing 2025 with this fantastic group 🎉😘

You're correct @crazycrofter he does but stopped the medication during his A'Levels as felt he could manage but sometimes finds it challenging in long meetings where he has to sit quietly for hrs listening. He also has TS, so has tics and on meds for OCD which make him sleepy. His work is not aware of any of this, and he copes so well, so he is being compared with everyone else. He did say he told the director he was on medication that makes him sleepy BUT he confessed to me that he actually finds tax boring and would not have fallen asleep if he was excited about it.

On the subject of girls, DS doesn't use flowery language but believes in treating women like 'ladies' something i gather MN scoffs at, so i guess that means he's a bit old fashioned. He believes in paying for meals, opening doors, being a present dad when the time comes and providing for his family etc I guess there's a fair maiden out there for him with similar values.

He sounds so lovely @shimy, I’m sure he’ll find his fair maiden!

All the boys on here sound like incredibly lovely young men; a credit to you all 👏

@crazycrofter Loving the most excellent humour and vocab.
Yes I think it's all right. He's done a research project which required 2 weeks in the labs, group presentation and then 5000 word write up. The last assignment was 5000 word literature review. Exams in three subjects in the summer term. The trouble is (in my opinion) that all the exams are 24 hours...

@Shimy That's a real shame and wise words from you. Hopefully his work to date carries him through.

Oh @Shimy what a shame, you know the more I learn about ADHD the more I suspect I might have it too. I can stay awake in meetings where I am actively participating no problem, I can stay awake in meetings / presentations which are really interesting, particularly if I make notes (I had no problems whatsoever with jury service in fact was super-focussed). But put me in a tedious one where perhaps I don’t fully understand what’s being talked about and am not expected to participate and I’m off and no matter what I do my eyes start closing. Either that or I yawn so much it’s embarrassing. I fidget too. I have to go to a regular meeting at work where there is a section I don't really understand and don’t really need to and there is no need to take notes (if I did it would look odd because no one else does, and everyone knows I don’t need to) and I really struggle. On the whole I prefer in person work but the one benefit of video calls in lockdown was that I could crochet under my desk in the tedious ones to keep myself awake. I do quietly do a few other bits on my laptop (we all take them in) but don't want to give the impression I’m not listening.

I'm the same @ExpensiveDecoration and finding out about ADHD was really enlightening for me! I used to try really hard to have a good night's sleep before a long meeting; I'd feel absolutely fine beforehand, not tired at all, then 10 mins into the meeting I'd feel exhausted, yawning, struggling to stay awake. Online meetings are easier to get through definitely.

@EwwSprouts sympathies with the 24 hour exams, they do sound horrendous!

We’ve been to Nottingham today for DS offer holder day. It wasn’t the most organised but the campus is beautiful.

Isn't it NCT. Ds like it?

@ExpensiveDecoration @crazycrofter I'm exactly the same in meetings. And watching TV. I have to be doing something else at the same time to concentrate. I hadn't associated that with ADHD. Now there's some googling for me to do in my next team meeting (online)

@ExpensiveDecoration & @crazycrofter Not so great in meetings myself and if you've ever worked for the NHS, you'll know what their 'strategy &'Commissioning' meetings are like. Glad to see we're not alone. Who knows whether one has adhd or not? we were forced to just cope. Glad things have changed.

My feelings are that I definitely have traits but not enough to be diagnosable and not enough to seriously impact my life. We all habitually sit in the same seats for this meeting and the chap next to me just sits there perfectly still apart from scrolling his screen occasionally or speaking and I wonder how on earth he does it. I am the same with TV too, I used to scroll ceefax obsessively now it's my phone. I also find it impossible to eat on my own without also reading or watching TV (prefer reading) and have always been like this.

Yes, all those things apply to me too! When I watch something on my own I have to play a game on my phone at the same time. When I watch with dh he won’t tolerate that so I often fall asleep!

I usually knit when watching TV - but actually mostly half-watch things on iPad when doing my interminable cross stitch project. I have a panic in my rare trips to the cinema over whether I can just sit and watch with no distraction bar a tub of salt and pepper cashews (posh cinema) but so manage it! The rare occasions when I can do work stuff with knitting (training or browsing calls with camera off) - bliss.

He liked the campus and the course, but not overly keen on the accommodation that we saw.

DS is home for 4 weeks later today. We've collected his stuff yesterday but he and his College boat are racing on the Thames today for the first time. He is cox due to being 5ft8 and not 6ft5! He is v nervous as he is also being interviewed for their live stream and has to wear a Go pro. I hope he has fitted in some work round the coxing this term.... they were staying in Putney last night as a college alumni was putting them all up. Brave man/woman!

I had my MR i this week so hoping for back pain answers soon. Just seems to be getting worse.

Hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to seeing DCs at Easter hols.

Hope today goes well for Ds @craggyrat and you get some answers from your MRI.

For future reference if anyone has younger children studying at Nottingham, dd hasn’t yet sorted accommodation for September as she made the decision to do the MSci late. She’s still collecting housemates ! However there are loads of houses still available for 4/5/6 students and cheap ones too. So I don’t know why there’s such a panic in autumn term of year one?

Really hoping you get good news @craggyrat and some insight as to how to get your back pain under control.

All good here, well kind of. I have a very down husband, who after getting over half way home Friday, was turned back to Boston. He doesn’t do work travel so well anymore since being on life long injectable meds for his scoliosis diagnosis, and had been away since last Monday. Now scheduled to get back at the earliest coming Monday morning.

DD is good, especially socially in Spain. Took longer this semester, but that could have been the teething issues with the house. But the offset is that she’s able to hold gatherings of circa 35 for the first time. She still has the battery power of a fresher, much to the dismay of her flat share friends who are sipping hot chocolate at 8pm. Her response is when will they get this opportunity again to mix with such wide groups of people, travelling around the Andalusian hotspots etc (can’t spell) but I can see both sides and would be more like her house friends.

The academic side has been a little more challenging. Whilst getting 20 contact hours, she finds the teaching uninspiring, does not make ANY allowances for non native speakers in larger class settings, and has realised she has been utterly spoilt, in particular the outstanding teaching in Cairo. All lessons are taught in Spanish. Including Arabic from Spanish (vs from English base) so double brain fry as she calls it!

But like your DS @mummyinbeds, the localisation of Spanish must be similar to the French regionality nuances, a challenge but necessary part of the learning!

@craggyrat hope you find out a way to help your pain. Back pain is so debilitating.

@ealingwestmum your poor husband. I always dread something like that happening when flying.

DD seems to be fitting in a bit more social life this term, so I hope the work is getting done as well. She has just heard that she passed the interview to become a Senior Student Ambassador so us very pleased - gets paid more for open days etc as she will be supervising others. She has a training on the first day of the holidays though so will be back home the first week of April.

Craggy, Hope you get answers from mri re back pain. I totally get it, because mine is only just getting better after nearly 2 years. I've had steroid injections and just waiting to see if I can get burning the nerve endings.

Ds phoned again for the 3rd week running. He says he's coming home next weekend to see us and help ds2 with his gcse revision which is sweet, but he's got a cold and every time he comes home he's ill and makes us all ill for weeks. Plus I don't want ds2 ill for the next 7 weeks. Hmm.

Craggy. I too had an MRI for my back this week. Desperate for some help as even taking very heavy duty pain meds, I can barely walk. I saw a consultant a few weeks ago, having waited months. He copied me in to his letter to my GP , said that he had reassured me it was nothing serious! I can’t walk, seems pretty serious to me. Grr. Ealing, Sorry for Mr Wests plane trouble. I would die if that happened to me, but it won’t as I decided 8 years ago that I was never ever getting in another plane. Sounds like a luxury your Dh doesn’t have. . My girl is finally beginning to socialise. Trying to decide if she should sign up for accommodation next year even though she’s hoping to be studying abroad. Tricky.
My eldest son and his dw, whom I adore, are having marital problems, which almost inexorably, we are being drawn into. I feel sick with worry for them. They seem unable to separate, or to reconcile. So ghastly. I have stuck my head over the parapet today with some very loving, limited and practical suggestions. Now scared to check for responses.

@Oblomov24 and @Zebracat sorry you're suffering/have been suffering with backs too. I had no idea how bad a back issue could be until two months ago. It is just awful. Thanks everyone for the best wishes.

@ealingwestmum plane journey sounds awful. We once had to land at St John's in Canada in a storm as a passenger had a stroke on the plane from Orlando to Manchester. As a nervous flyer anyway that was scary all ways round.

@Zebracat the parental role never seems to end! My DS is has been through 2 divorces and I know my DMum has definitely been through it all as well. I hope they can sort something out soon.

Thank you for DH well wishes, my dog is looking forward to Monday for sure.

Solidarity to the all the back sufferers and relationship counsellors out there, we have yet to have a major first relationship to deal with here.

Sorry about your dh’s flight woes @ealingwestmum and the family worries @Zebracat . It seems the worrying never ends 😩

Dd has just broken up with her boyfriend and dh seems to have taken it almost harder than she has! The boyfriend is like dh in lots of ways and has similar interests. It is sad, the thought of never seeing him again. Nothing like the impact of @Zebracat situation of course. Do they have children?

Sorry to hear of relationship and travel woes. Like Ealing, no major first relationship here yet. I recall DM telling me how hard it was on them when I parted ways with a boyfriend of two years. Fear not dear readers, all was not lost DF went on to hire the ex to work for him (there was a proper recruitment process involving others).

I hope the back pain sufferers get accurate diagnoses and therapy plans with proper pain management soon. It is so debilitating.